[booger823]

I have windows xp pro, amd 2200+ ,768mb ram, radeon 9250 video card(newly installed) windows won't restart but if I turn pc off and leave it alone for a while (15-25 min.) it restarts normally. Any ideas appreciated.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Booger823. What is the rating of your Power Supply? If you are not sure where to look, open the case and look at the sticker on the Power Supply.

[rgreen4]

Explain exactly what you mean by restart. What steps are you taking to "restart".That may give us some ideas of where the problem may lie.

[booger823]

300 watts

[booger823]

I hit restart at shutdown and the pc starts but windows doesn't open just a black screen

[rgreen4]

You are refering to the restart button on the front panel?Does it go through the entire post - you will see white text on a black screen, and then either the manufacturers screen or more text as it checks the drives, etc. Then you will see a black screen with the windows logo and the scan bar at the bottom.At what specific point does it stop, or does it never start?

[booger823]

No, I mean restart on the option window ie. shutdown-restart etc.

[booger823]

I see the lights on the cd rom drives flash like they always do but nothing ever comes up on the screen. Just black.

[rgreen4]

Okay - that is called a software restart - similar to the restarts software installations do.First suspect is always the last thing changed - in this case the video card.First thing - remove and reseat the video card.Second thing - leave the side of the case off and make sure that when you start the PC all of the fans, PS, Case, CPU and Video Card are turning.

[booger823]

I'll try that, thank you.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Booger823. A couple things to keep in mind as you are doing RGreen's suggestions:- Give a few shots of compressed air to the inside of your computer. The restart could be an overheating problem related to dust accumulation.- Your Power Supply is underpowered. The mean rating for a modern system, especially one with newer components, is 450-500 Watts. Power Supplies are very inexpensive and you can find them at just about any computer store. I would advise going to newegg.com first and comparing prices there.- Your memory is somewhat low. Depending on the things you do on your computer, I would advise bumping your memory up to at least 1GB or more. Stay within the system specifications of your motherboard (if custom computer) or manufacturer's owner's manual (if manufactured computer)Please post back and let us know how everything went.