Need help on pc issue

[raosun]

hello huys, i have an issue im hoping you may be able to help with. i have an old destop that seems to be stuck in some sort of boot cycle, it will go thru the loading screens but right before destop loads up it restarts itself over and over. I could care less about the pc it self as i have a laptop also, but i have all of my daughters pictures on the system from birth to current.

Is there any way to get the files off of the system, i have heard mention of a hard drive enclosure, but no idea what it is/can do, any help would be great.

[vherub]

plenty of options to get the files off the system.
A hard drive enclosure is pretty easy- it's like turning it into an external harddrive
Here is one type:
http://www.meritline.com/moving-star-emvotb35dsl-3-5-otb-deluxe-aluminum-enclosure-silver.html

if you have never opened up a case before, you might want to read up on it, but removing a harddrive is one of the simpler things

[Sokkratez]

How old a desktop? Has the Windows install not been updated in a while? The Blaster Worm a few years ago caused reboots like that.

Can you boot in safe mode?

[raosun]

its an emachines probably around 4 years old, has xp and everything up to date as of around 3 months ago. The issue started right after i downloaded the trial version of norton 09, and it doesnt give me any option to boot in safe mode at all.

[Sokkratez]

Tap F8 while you're booting up, once you pass the post screen (or the emachines splash page, don't know if they have that). Select safe mode from the menu that comes up, then uninstall Norton and whatever else you've installed recently. Or just back stuff up.

[JUDOHAWK]

If that doesn't work and you must reformat it. You might be able to boot into a live linux cd, get the photos out and move them onto a flash drive.

[Sokkratez]

Yes, that :) Though if they're NTFS drives you'll probably want a distro that comes with NTFS support without downloading additional stuff. Linux Mint is one I know of.