my computer wont start up and when it does, after about 10 minutes it will shut down. a blue screen appears just before it shuts down but it goes by so fast you cant read it. then the computer seems to trying to restart - the light flicker, but the screen stays black. Sometimes it will start up but it goes back down..... SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!! right now i just want it to come on long enough to save some important data, then i want to reformat it.

Hello, and Welcome to techhelpforum.

Your problem sounds like it could be either hardware or software related. Can you boot and stay running with a bootable media? (Floppy or CD) If so, it's software related.

How old is the machine?

Desktop or Laptop?

Dust on components, especially the CPU fan/heatsink assembly and the power supply, can cause these symptoms. (Relates to heat and "safety" shut-downs.)

The next time the machine starts (and runs) right click on My Computer, choose Properties, Advanced, and click Settings under Startup and Recovery. Remove the checkmark from Automatically Restart under System Failure. Click OK and OK.

Can you start in Safe Mode? (Start tapping the F8 key during a boot.) If you achieve this, you can do the above while in Safe Mode.