ID:183463
 
I have a friend who says his main computer just reboots after the OS is attempting to boot up, and he has tried Safe Mode and it wields the same results.

He sometimes can get into a desktop, I believe he got into it twice all day yesterday

He has tried getting the WindowsXP Install CD in, but it seems the "Geek Squad" put passwords on his BIOS on a prior visit. (And from what I'm understanding, he needs it to set his Boot Options to try booting from CD)


So, with that said... is there anything he could do himself? Or would it just be best to take it to a computer repair shop or something?


*He said the PC is "custom built", and around 4-5 years old. But I don't know if he just means it had a few optional parts he chose to accept...(The warranty on his parts should be up anyway if he bought them and assembled it himself, right?)

Although this may or may not help, I would confront the Geek Squad about password protecting his BIOS without permission. I work for Best Buy and I don't think corporate HQ would like to hear about that little Geek Squad misadventure.

~Kujila
In response to Kujila
Just pull the CMOS(looks like a watch battery) battery off the motherboard and wait a few mins, then reinstall it. This will reset the bios to default, which will then wipe the bios password
Trust Geek Squad to know what they're doing... Maybe it's just the local Geek Squad, but all of their customer reviews have been bad.

One guy said that they did not know what they were doing, requesting technical support from him, the guy who needs the help; another said they made another account on Windows to avoid a problem on the administrative account, and coincidentally, he has very limited access to the computer because the admin account is now password protected. I didn't quite expect them to know anything about Linux, and they don't, according to the PC-haters back at school.
In response to Soldierman
Alright, this worked. He was able to get into his BIOS, but then after he set it to CD-ROM it went back into the restart cycle... but this time it was loading the CD-ROM but kept restarting. (in BIOS it no longer restarts, only after BIOS is exited)

I told him to check his Power/Voltage settings, and his chassis fan isn't even moving.

<code> imbset says: my cpu temp is 84 c imbset says: is that good? imbset says: the max warning temp imbset says: shows 70 c imbset says: the system temp is 32 c imbset says: and the cpu temp is 85 imbset says: the cpy fan speed is 2812 imbset says: chassis fan speed? imbset says: is 0 m </code>

Could the fan be the culprit? Could it really be heating up that fast, then the cpu shutting off? (His CPU brand is Intel, I think I read they shut off to prevent damage?) But if that was the case, why would the computer not restart in BIOS and would it cause a constant restart cycle?