Wierd boot up problem

G

ges

Any of you tech types have any idea what these symptoms might mean:

Windows XP Home
Computer is one year old

When I start up the computer, the boot process runs normally until after the Windows XP Home splash screen. At that point, instead of going to the users screen where I click on my account, the screen goes blank.

The screen stays blank, but you can see the cursor and usually the hour glass beside it. Periodically the screen flashes and you can hear disk activity, but the boot process doesn't complete.

So far, after multiple restarts I have finally gotten in and then the machine seems to run fine. I've asked some knowledgable people I work with and this was nothing they were familiar with.

The problem is getting worse and it is taking more restarts to get into Windows, so I figure it will eventually fail completely.

For now, I will just leave it running, but I know that after a day or two, it will probably have to be rebooted.

So, I plan on backing everything up and will prepare to reformat, though I really hate to do that.

I've followed the discussions here about having a ghost drive and may try to get that set up, but it may be too late.

I appreciate any advice.

ges
 
I'm not sure if this will help, but recently I had problems with my boot up and narrowed it down to a problem with either my wireless keyboard or wireless mouse. I removed them and everything worked fine after that. I think there was a problem detecting them, so boot up wouldn't complete.
Just a thought that might help.
 
Some IDE disk failures - just before they permanently fail - exhibit this behaviour. They will intermittedly hang and the system will not boot - although you usually will get a stop error instead. If you can get booted up ensure that you get a fresh backup of your system just in case.

The problem is more likely as stated earlier: the system is not detecting a device or having problems loading device drivers.

Safemode is always a useful tool to help with these issues.
 
Quote from macal425:

I'm not sure if this will help, but recently I had problems with my boot up and narrowed it down to a problem with either my wireless keyboard or wireless mouse. I removed them and everything worked fine after that. I think there was a problem detecting them, so boot up wouldn't complete.
Just a thought that might help.
More...

Thanks macal, but I have no wireless stuff hooked up.

ges
 
Quote from pspr:

I'm having the same sort of problem with XP pro. If you wait long enough it will open. (You can call MS and have a tech help you too http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/support/default.asp ) I think with all the patches and add-ons, there is just too much loading at once.

More RAM may help. Also, turn off the windows services that aren't used. You can find out about that at

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm and

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/xp_fixes.html
More...

Thanks, Wally! I'll pursue these leads.

ges
 
Quote from CalTrader:

Some IDE disk failures - just before they permanently fail - exhibit this behaviour. They will intermittedly hang and the system will not boot - although you usually will get a stop error instead. If you can get booted up ensure that you get a fresh backup of your system just in case.

The problem is more likely as stated earlier: the system is not detecting a device or having problems loading device drivers.

Safemode is always a useful tool to help with these issues.
More...

That's what I'm afraid of...disk failure, but I've had no stop error (not that I know what one is :( ) One one of the restarts I was able to get into the screen that gives you the option to use safe mode, but ordinarily it does not come up. Is there a way during the boot process to force that screen to come up, so I can use safe mode? The one time that screen came up, I selected the option for the last configuration that worked, and it booted up that way.

I appreciate the suggestions.

ges
 
I have never added a hard disk to a PC before. It looks like I just install the second drive as a slave and plug it into the master drives cable? Any tricks to this?

If I can get a second drive before the computer completely gives up, I'd like to use that method to make a copy of everything, or ghost image, before reformatting the original drive.

Gad, I wish I didn't have to spend so much time on keeping the machine running properly.

ges
 
i am not a computer expert, have a similar problem xp HE , my start up may first report "load needed dll's for HAL" or it may be "load needed dll's for kernel" or "..file \system32\ntfs..." missing or corrupt. By the 3rd or 4th boot up it will boot up fine and work fine until next reboot. after browsing MS knowledge base (search using the error messages) they all seem to point to doing an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of winXP. KB Article 315341. Another suggests doing a rebuilt of the boot files or something like that. a paid computer consultant i know said that what causes the multi-reboots and eventual good operation is caused by: (paraphrasing back into nontech talk) when windows begins to boot up it looks for the files it needs, if that file is not present where it is supposed to be, on the first pass windows will not boot and report the error, upon the second and further attempts it will begin looking for those needed files in a secondary location, and again on a 3rd + attempts in hierarchy of locations until everything that is needed is found and loaded-then the computer will work normally. How to fix this I am not yet clear if the in-place reinstallation -or- the boot rebuild is better, or if there is something else entirely. Will be bold one day to try one or the other (AFTER all things are BACKED UP), and have the time to do a full reinstall of everything if the fix does not work. until then, i press reset until i have a desktop.
cheers
box
 
I know this sounds wierd, but my step son had a similar problem.

He took his pc to a fix it shop and they changed his monitor settings and he said that fixed it - sounds strange and my info is second hand but you never know - it could be the fix for yours as well.

The best thing about it - they only charged him 10 bux.
 
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