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My system configuration is P4, 2.4 GHz, 256 MB RAM and 80GB Hard disk, with Windows XP loaded with latest updates. Of late, whenever I click start and Run, if I type cmd to open command prompt, immediately the system reboots. Please suggest a solution.

Ravinder

To fix the problem of computer rebooting when you type CMD in Start Run, you can try the following:

Please check first whether the system is infected with viruses. Verify that your virus definition files are up-to-date and then perform a Full virus scan. Restart the computer in safe mode.

To do this, as the system is booting, just tap (press) the F8 key continuously until you see the startup menu and you select safe mode. Then scan the computer for any viruses in the safe mode. If any virus is found, remove it. This may help to restore the CMD prompt.

These days, If you are using any free Anti-virus Product, nowadays free online scans for viruses are availablefor virus scan, such as the following: of the free online scans

Trend Micro HouseCall - http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Symantec Security Check - http://security.symantec.com/

McAfee - http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/default.asp

If the problem still persists, it could be that If still the problem persists it seems that some of the system files have got corrupted.

You will have to repair Windows XP by running the SFC (System File Checker) command.

In order to run this command, you must login as Administrator. From the Start - Run, please type "sfc /options" (without the quotes).

There are various options available for SFC. Some of them are SCANNOW, SCANONCE and SCANBOOT. As the name denotes, SCANNOW will start scanning immediately and SCANBOOT will start the scanning at the next boot. If SFC finds any protected system files have been modified, it will retrieve the correct version of the file from %systemroot%\system32\dllcache folder and replaces it.

If the %systemroot%\system32\dllcache folder itself has got corrupted, then the options SCANNOW, SCANONCE or SCANBOOT will repair the dllcache directory.

The final option is to run the check disk from the recovery console. To get into the recovery console, please boot the computer from the Windows XP OS CD.

At the welcome screen, you will see three options. To set up windows xp now (Press Enter) , To repair using Recovery Console (Press R) , To quit setup (Press F3). Here you select the Repair option (Press R). This will bring up invoke the Recovery console. It detects previous installations of the OS and prompts "Which windows Installation would you like to log onto". If there is one windows installation, press 1.

This will prompt you to enter the administrator's password. In that prompt, you run chkdsk or chkdsk /p. chkdsk will display the status of disks and corrects the errors in the disk. The chkdsk without any option will check the current drive.

The /p option will perform an exhaustive check even if the drive is not marked for chkdsk to run. You can type exit to quit the recovery console.

After the chkdsk is complete, please boot the computer normally and the CMD prompt should work now.

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