[ICURN1974]

Forums Newbie here! Running XP sp3. My computer is an older, uncomplicated build with one HDD, 2 optical drives. A very basic video card. Sorry, I don't know the specs in detail. AMD proc with a Biostar mobo, 2x 1GB ram . This is a very fresh XP install onto a new hard disk a few months ago. My PC has been running flawlessly for a good 6 years or so. With the exception of the original HDD suddenly failing in <10 seconds of clicking and a bad PSU last year, she's been good to me. Two weeks ago, as I was using my computer, I hear the glitch in the speakers and my PC shut down with a reboot. A complete reboot. I resumed working. Several minutes later, same thing. This happened a few times before I quit for good in fear of damaging my new HDD or something else. I assumed it to be a faulty PSU which I replaced a few days ago. Turns out the PSU was DOA. For the heck of it, I connected my 'failed' PSU to my sister's PC which needs a PSU. Hers started up fine, and had it running for several hours. OK, well the next day I connected it to my PC and mine did indeed power up without incident. I was working on it for a few hours without problems. Then, the PC shut down and into the black welcome screen. I can only get so far as the Windows XP splash screen and the PC will shut down and reboot into the "We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully" screen that offers you options: Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, Safe Mode with Command Prompt, Last Known Configuration, and Start Windows Normally. Choosing any one of these options leads to reboot, and I get the same screen again. I am unable to make it through any choice. I receive no error messages. I get the XP splash screen for a few seconds and then *zap*. Interestingly enough, if I don't make a choice and leave it sit at the black screen, it stays on (I had it sit for as long as 3 hours before making a choice).

I suppose this can always be the PSU but it doesn't seem to be. A tech guy at a very large computer retail center said it was a virus and that "its too late" to do anything. OK, well, if it were a virus, why did my PC work for hours after a 2 week vacation? Didn't make sense. He also suggested bad memory or bad sections of the memory. Again, isn't that something that either works or its fried? Is it the mobo? Man, I'm hoping for an easy fix without having to reinstall XP and go through all those updates, reboots, updates, reboots, reinstall of my other software, etc. Thanks in advance for any help offered.