PCTech Forums

I built a brand new machine recently and I have windows xp pro installed and everything, but now I am having a big problem. The computer just restarts when I try to do some things. I haven't really noticed a pattern in which operations cause the shut down, but it happens so frequently that I haven't even been able to install the drivers for the motherboard yet. If anyone could give me any ideas as to what could be causing this problem, I'd appreciate it. By the way, I've tried two different XP Pro's so I don't think it's a problem with Windows, however, everytime it reboots, there is a Windows error message saying "The system has recovered from a serious error." Also, it's not just when I try to do anything. For instance, I can usually listen to a song in media player but I can hardly navigate the C: drive in Windows Explorer without a problem.

On a side note, I was able to install drivers for the All-In-Wonder card fine off of the CD. However, since I don't have the disc that comes with the mobo, I downloaded the files online with my laptop and put them on a flash disk. I was unable to install from the flash disk, so I copied the files to the hard drive. That still didn't work. I can't figure out what is causing all these problems. Please give me any ideas, I'm new to this and I'm sick of having a $2000 paperweight on my desk. Thanks.

First of all the motherboard drivers should have been installed before Windows.

Boot into safe mode:
After you see the BIOS screen and before Windows starts to loaded.
Start tapping the F8 key. The Windows Advanced Options Menu appears.
Use the Arrow key to ensure that the Safe Mode option is selected.
Press Enter. The computer then begins to start in Safe mode.

Now go to Start > Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > Startup and Recovery section
Settings button > System Failure section > check the box 'Write an event to the system log'
and uncheck Automatically Restart

Now your system will not reboot it will show a BSOD with the error code displayed on your screen.
Write down the error code and post it back here.

I think I fixed it. Thanks a lot for your help. Somehow, one of the drivers ran in safe mode, while most wouldn't, and now it works fine. Thanks again.