Recycling Incomplete Boot

[Condor]

Yesterday when I started my win 7 machine it got past the initial Bios screen to the "loading operating system" screen and then rebooted to the same point several times. I had to hols down the power button to get it to stop and then disconnected the power for a few minutes. After reconnecting the power it booted normally and has several times since. Any ideas as to what was going on?

[TequilaChaser]

It is possible that the system was hanging up on a Windows update that did not properly install

Windows OS keeps a list of the last 5 registry settings (or is it 3) and also does the same for the MBR (Master Boot Record)...

So when you run into an unstable or other boot up situation, each restarting of the computer will cycle through the last 5 (3) stable MBR and/or Registry backups...

Going by what you posted, this sounds like what it might could have been

Just taking an educated guess here...

Just to be cautious, scan for possible malware/virus infection, anytime you try to boot up your computer and it hangs, then starts normal the next time you go to boot up.... or if your computer suddenly decides to up and restart on its own with no reason

I would do a virus scan ( from multiple sources, example: ESET free online virus scanner, Trend Micro's free online scanner, Malwarebytes free scanner etc)

I would also do several shutdowns and restarts to see if all is working normal now after I have thoroughly scanned for possible malware infection...

Hope this helps

TC

[Bizman]

It sounds like your system couldn't find (or start) the hard drive. Why, that's another question.

It could be something as simple as the bios battery starting to fail. It doesn't cost much to replace it. Start with that, doing all the testing only to find out the culprit is a tiny button cell can be very frustrating.

It could also be your power supply starting to fail. When it gets warm during several boot attempts it works as it should. After having changed the battery and successfully booted and reset the bios, shutdown your system and pull the cord out of the PSU to get rid of any standby power leftovers. Let it cool down properly, preferably overnight or more. If the problem reappears, change the PSU.

Motherboard capacitors can also cause similar symptoms.

And of course it can be your hard disk. There's tests for them by the manufacturers, like SeaTools and WinDLG, both available for Windows, too.

Plus of course everything that TC said.