Booting Problems

[inforis]

Hi Everyone.
First i want to list my system specs.
I have an AMD Phenom ii X4 920 (Stock)
1 Gig of DDR2 RAM PC2-4200 (planning on upgrading)
an XFX ATI Radeon 4650 (Stock)
An ATX 300 Watt psu (This might be an issue)
and an MSI K9N6PGM2-V Motherboard (Low-end, i'm on an extremely tight budget).
Windows Vista Home Premium.
I started noticing this issue couple months ago with the same specs above but with an AMD Phenom X4 9750 instead.
What would happen is the computer would load up to the bios screen. It would pass that, then it would then pass with the OS selection fine but when the system shows the bootup loading screen, (It shows the progress bar with the green bars moving across), The system from there would automatically
Reboot to the Very beginning. I used to have 2 Gigs of RAM but the system wouldn't boot with this specific stick i had in so i took it out. so i'm assuming the RAM is fine. I've replaced the CPU with a Phenom ii so the Processor isn't the problem. The Video card is fine because the same problem would happen with it on and off the system. So now im stuck here with a broken computer and i don't know what to do. Could it be the PSU?
I'm out of ideas and now i'm turning to you guys for help.

 

[rolli59]

It can be the PSU, what brand and model is it?

 

[inforis]

I believe it is an ATX-300-12ED

 

[rolli59]

That PSU is little low on +12 volt power (15amps) and could be failing from having high loads on the +12volts for a long time. http://www.atxpowersupplies.com/300-watt-power-supply-bestec-atx-300-12ed.php
I would start by replacing the PSU with a good quality unit.

 

[inforis]

Can you recommend one for me?
I can't afford to go over 35 bucks (Again i'm on a super tight budget)

 

[rolli59]

Good quality $30 after MIR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033

 

[inforis]

Correction, My Power Supply is an ATX 300 12Z
But i guess that wouldn't matter, i still need a new psu right?
I'm about to go shopping for a new PSU, can you tell me what i need to look for in buying a new one?

 

[inforis]

I replaced my PSU with a 400 watt psu, Everything seems to work fine but i'm still getting booting problems. Can anyone help me?

 

[rolli59]

Have you tried repair install of windows?

 

[inforis]

I don't think re-installing the OS would work, I did a system recovery and that didn't work, I tried 3 different hard drives with different windows installations on them and that didn't work either.
Would it be my RAM by any chance?
I think i've replaced every part on my system that makes up a computer except for RAM.

 

[rolli59]

It can be ram, If you have more than 1 stick try them one at a time.

 

[inforis]

I only have 1 stick, the other one broke couple months ago.
If i ran memtest, would it be able to check if theres something wrong with it?

 

[rolli59]

Yes it should

 

[inforis]

I've ran every test 2 times, Everything seems to pass...
Also, i noticed something in the booting process, When it boots, there would be a bluescreen, it would popup for less than a second and reboot.
I'm losing faith in my pc

 

[rolli59]

You have a option in BIOS to stop it from starting automatically after a BOSD cant remember what it is called though. If you get the code it might indicate what is wrong.

 

[inforis]

The option to stop it from restarting was already off by default,
Though i managed to get a glimpse of the error.
It looked like "IRQL_not_less_or_equal" or "IRQL_not_greater_or_equal" something like that.
Not sure what it means though...

 

[rolli59]

Could be driver issue. I would try a repair install of windows, it does not wipe anything and costs nothing.

 

[inforis]

What do you mean by repair install?
I already restored the OS to it's factory shipped condition and the problem still persists.

 

[rolli59]

Repair install is little more than restore, you start up from the windows disk select install, then when the installation program finds a previous windows install it will ask if you want to repair it or make a new installation, if you select repair at that point you will not loose your other data.

 

[inforis]

Alright, i'll try this out, i'll post results when i finish

 

[inforis]

No luck. The problem is still there
:/

 

[inforis]

any help guys?
I'm desperate.

 

[rolli59]

You will find out with the breadboarding method http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-262730_13_0.html