Windows keeps restarting (plug and play error)

Hi,

My computer keeps restarting. Immediately after logging into windows I get the message "windows must now restart because the plug and play service terminated". Please note that I do not have time to do anything (no time to switch on antivirus software, or do any of the things suggested in the READ & RUN ME FIRST thread) before the message comes up and my computer restarts. Im not sure whether this is a virus or a genuine problem with the computer.

This morning I switched on my computer from a hibernated state. It was extremely sluggish, then I had the usual message saying windows had completed downloading updates and that my computer would now restart. Upon restarting it got to the screen where it says "Windows is configuring, do not turn off computer". But it got stuck on this screen for half an hour so I switched it off. Upon restarting it seemed to work fine, went through the windows updates, got to 3 of 3, and I continued to log on. Then I got the "windows must now restart because the plug and play service terminated" message.

I had an external hard drive plugged in during this time. But took it out thinking it might be part of the problem. Now, when I try to plug it back in windows freezes in what ever its doing, leading to believe that it may be a problem with the communication between windows and the external hard drive. I have plugged the external hard drive into a different laptop (this one) and it works fine.

Any help is very much appreciated,

Thanks, Andy

 

EDIT: I just tried doing a system restore, which failed. Then I tried running in safe mode and immediately got the error: "power service terminated unexpectedly" and the computer was forced to restart.