Annoying computer problem, restart

[apsc]

hello i have come to this forum hoping to find some answers.

i have a computer that i have built by myself; amd xp 2500+ 1.8ghz with 512mb ram running windows home edition. it has been working fine for couple years now. recently i had a power outage, and the computer has been restarting automatically since, without warning. i do not get an error window or a blue screen. also, the computer seems a bit louder than before, especially the fan (there is a slight highpitch sound. no dust it is clean)

when it restarts itself, half the time it successfully loads windows, but only lasts a while before it restarts again; and the other half of the time it gets to the loading screen (the blue marker going across the bar) only to restart again and again, repeating this process for more than 10 times.

here is what i have done to try to resolve the problem

i have done a full, clean format (it needed cleaning sooner or later anyway ) and installed all the necessary updates.
i checked the battery on the motherboard, it seems to be fine.
i have set my boot to harddrive only because the computer will not start with the cd in the drive. (wasn't an issue before, and when it tries to load the computer there is a lot of sound coming from the cd drive, despite being empty).
i have unchecked 'automatically restart' under the startup and recovery option.
i have 'write an event log' enabled but it doesn't create one anyway.

i am starting to believe that the problem lies in the power supply, and that the power failure somehow made it malfunction. i do not think the cpu is getting hot because i have not overclocked it and i have an extra fan to blow the air out. the room is also on the cool side (i live in canada )

i cannot think of anything else that will fix the problem. so before i go out and by a new power supply, i would greatly appreciate any help !

Thank you in advance !

 

[PC eye]

It could very well be a bad cap in the supply now seeing problems. When you first startup a system the draw on the supply is the heaviest. A weak cap will discharge too fast or not hold a sufficient charge long enough during each cycle. Don't rule out other hardware problems now being indicated.

A cpu can be overheating without ocing if the cpu fan is now running slower or failing on a stock setup. You wouldn't see sudden restarts when the system is cold however. The system would have needed to be running for several minutes to initially warmup to see that. One other thought would be the system bios itself or the main chipset. These are a few other items to consider.