System keeps restarting during boot

[GKNByNW]

For several weeks now my system has had an issue where it restarts while booting Kubuntu 14.04. Sometimes I can boot up into Kubuntu just fine, other times it will reboot once or twice, and then there's time where it will restart 8 to 10 times before finally loading completely. I just put a new drive in my PC this weekend and reinstalled my dual-boot Win7/Kubuntu 14.04 setup, and it is still doing the same thing. Previously I was using rEFInd as my boot manager but I have grub installed (at least for now.) I would like to think there's a bug in one of the recent kernel updates causing this but I have no way to verify that.

I did try Google and searching the forums here but to no avail. Has anyone here had the same issues or know what the heck is going on? As always, thanks in advance.

EDIT: Also worth noting... before I got GRUB up and running I was using my rEFInd flash drive to boot Kubuntu and was still getting the reboot problem.

[GreyGeek]

My first thought would be a failing power supply.
My second thought would be an HD going bad.
My third thought is that both are going on the fritz.
My fourth thought was that your Win7 side picked up the tdss boot block rootkit, which is an old virus. Tdsskiller, a free download from Kapersky Labs, will remove it. https://support.kaspersky.com/us/vir...infection/5350

First, do a memory test from the boot menu to make sure its not a memory problem.
Second, use KDE Partition Manager and use its Device --> Smart test to check the HD for errors.
Third, you don't say if you have a desktop or a laptop. However, reading the power supply voltages with a volt meter may help. Having lots of USB stuff plugged in may be pulling the power supply down far enough to cause a reboot, but after several attempts all capacitors in the boot up circuitry have enough charge to allow a full boot.

[Rod J]

My first thought would be a failing power supply.

+1 Also my first thought.

Spontaneous rebooting like you're describing is almost always a hardware problem and the most likely culprit is the power supply. My old power supply used to be noticeably affected by ambient temperature, the colder it was the more likely it would play up and reboot many times (usually before it ever got near loading the OS) until it warmed up enough to maintain a steady voltage. Bad, leaking capacitors is usually the cause.

[jlittle]

My first thought would be a failing power supply...

+1
My second thought is the failing power supply is stressing other components, particularly the motherboard. A possible outcome is one day it won't boot at all, you'll replace the power supply, only for the motherboard to fail a few months later.

Regards, John Little

[Qqmike]

Rod J: Bad, leaking capacitors is usually the cause.

And when this is so, sometimes you can spot it: Using a good flashlight, examine your motherboard. The capacitors looks like little beer cans. Look for leakage around the capacitor or, more usually, on the top of it -- leakage may look discolored or like an icky substance.

[GKNByNW]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I guess I was not very clear in the OP about this. This is a desktop that I built a few years back, with the following specs:

Intel DP55KG Extreme mobo
i5-760 CPU
12GB DDR3
500GB platter boot drive
All other drives currently disconnected

The boot drive was just installed in this PC last week and passed a short SMART Test and was given a 3-pass DOD wipe with Active KillDisk prior to me doing a clean install of both OSes. I've worked with computers for about 30 years so I can confidently say there are no bad/blown caps on the mobo. While I can't say for certain regarding the PSU I don't believe that is at fault either. I am running Memtest86 as we speak but no red flags as of yet.

To be clear these are not random reboots, rebooting at any given time, but rather the system is only rebooting DURING THE BOOTUP OF LINUX. Windows boots up just fine, and once either OS is loaded everything is rock-solid. It is my belief that something is crashing during Kubuntu's boot process that is forcing the system to restart. As I said in the OP, sometimes it boots up fine. Other times it takes several attempts before I can get to the login screen and, I reiterate, once I'm to that point I have no other issues at all with system stability. I was having this problem prior to changing out my boot drive and reinstalling. In fact the boot issue is partly what led to me swapping out the boot drive.

I don't get much time at the computer these days but this afternoon if I have some free time I will be changing the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT to remove the splash option so I can do a video record the system messages during boot. I likely wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of said messages but maybe someone here will be able to spot something.

[GreyGeek]

Have you looked at the previous logs, including the compressed ones?

Did you do a fresh install of 14.04 from a checksumed USB stick, or from some backed up image?

Have you tried 16.04 LTS?


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