Computer reboots over and over again

[Ochd]

I got a new computer today, and I want to transfer all my stuff from my old computer. But the old computer's got problems.

I was visiting a site that I know to be safe, when the computer rebooted. I've hardly ever had problems with it crashing, etc., so this was a little strange. Then, just as the Windows Welcome screen was coming up, it resets again. And it continues like that indefinitely.

I've tried starting in Safe Mode, but after it lists a bunch of file names, it seems to stall on one called Mup.sys or something like that (Years ago I had a virus that reset the computer and, while I thought it was rebooting, it was deleting the hard drive). So I was a little cautious leaving it at that stage.

Does it really take 10+ minutes to boot up in Safe Mode?

Are there any suggestions as to what I should do? I'd just really like to get as much off that computer as I can.

Thanks for any help.

 

[crazyman143]

well, if your new comp is a desktop and has a second harddrive bay, you could plug the harddrive into it and set it as slave, and when you boot to windows, simply browse through it and copy your files over.

 

[Ochd]

well, if your new comp is a desktop and has a second harddrive bay, you could plug the harddrive into it and set it as slave, and when you boot to windows, simply browse through it and copy your files over.

That was my plan, but someone else told me it might not be safe to do so if there's a virus on the drive. Would that be a problem?

 

[lurkswithin]

I don't think that you have a virus. It is more of a hardware issue since it reboots before windows loads.
More than like a failed ram stick or a driver file that went nuts and keeping windows from loading. Slave the driv and get what you want from it then play with the old pc and fix it up as a back-up drive.

 

[Ochd]

Okay, thanks.

Now comes another problem... slaving the drive. Does that involve more than just hooking it up? I don't really know the first thing about computers, but I think I remember pins or something when putting in a new drive a long time ago.

 

[crazyman143]

it's pretty simple I believe, just unplug it from your old computer and plug it into the new one.. there is a place on the hard drive where a small pin plugs onto the drive. there are different places which make the drive do different things... it is probably set for "master" right now. move it to "slave" and just start it up. viruses or not likely to be a problem as long as you only copy your personal files.

 

[dyserq]

I'm guessing a error or something gone wrong, probably not a virus like teh Sasser worm.

 

[crazyman143]

Once you get all of you files transferred to your new computer, you could reinstall windows on your older computer. If the same problem occurs, you can pretty much conclude that there is definitly a hardware problem that you should check in to.

 

[Ochd]

Okay, I 've got the hard drive halfway hooked up. Here's what's going on:

In the new computer, the main drive has two cords: one going to what I assume is the motherboard (I'm not even sure about that), and the other one heads straight up somewhere. On that cord, there's another one tied on, with two ends: P5 and P6. I assume this is for another drive. I plugged the larger end into my old drive, but (and this sounds stupid, I know) I don't know where the other end goes. Should it go into the main drive (I've tried, but it doesn't seem to fit) or somewhere else?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the help.

 

[crazyman143]

It's a bit hard to know what cords and stuff you are talking about... maybe you could give us a picture or something? maybe someone else understands?
*EDIT
there should be two cords near your existing master drive, one extremely wide one, and one which is very short. these plug into the harddrive. The wide one does have another plug on the same cord, for your second drive.

For the small cord I'm not sure, although I think it is the same way. as far as the other ends, (where they plug into on your motherboard etc.) this is not important.