Houston, we have problem!

[Brownlow]

I wrote, some time ago, to say that my computer was having difficulty booting up. It kept shutting off and I had to unplug it to get it to load the programmes. It was suggested that there my be a problem with the programmes that load at start-up, but after checking them all, it proved not to be any of them. In fact, the situation was getting worse; I had to try about three, or four, times before I could get to the desktop and was able to use the machine. So, I wiped the hard drive, completely, and loaded the OS and basic programmes, manually. However, when I next tried to boot up, I had the same trouble as before. So, it looks like it is a hardware problem. Does anyone have any ideas about it?

[romko]

first, let's narrow things down. unplug ALL peripherals except the mouse, keyboard, monitor.

Also remove any internal PCI cards like audio etc.
Power up, reboot and see how it goes, then replace the items one by one until the system hangs.

Another thing if the above fails, it may be a memory problem (try removing and reseating the memory modules) or the internal cooling is not working, making the processor act funny. try opening it up and observing the fan on the cpu itself.