Hello,
Vince said:
Problem: Can only run XP Home Edition in safe mode (because in normal mode
video stops and computer locks up)
Suggested Solution: Reinstall using Microsoft reinstall instruction page.
Result: Stuck in re-install loop - re-installation will run until 34
minutes
left in installation (right when Windows is faster and more reliable
message
appears - ironic right?) then video drops and computer locks up. I now can
no
longer go into safe mode (setup will not run in safe mode) or do anything
except enter the loop again or restart from the beggining of the
re-install
which puts me back in the loop.
Additional info: Acording to McAffee and Norton online scans, as well as
the
now disabled McAffee Security Center there were no viruses detected prior
to
re-installation. Spyware Dr. also came out clean other than a few tracking
cookies that had previously been deleted.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Can you get into Safe Mode at all now? It's not clear from the above.
If you can, do it - then reload all of your motherboard and other
hardware drivers (especially the video-card drivers) from the supplied CDs,
and see what improvement you can get (if any) after a standard boot. With
any luck, that may fix things for you all by itself.
If that fails, restart in Safe Mode and run the MSCONFIG program from
'Start ... Run' (just type-in MSCONFIG and click 'OK'). When the System
Configuratuion Utility dialog appears, select the 'Selective Startup'
radio-button and uncheck 'Load Startup Items' to disable all of the Startup
stuff from the Registry and 'Start ... Programs' menu.
Click 'Apply', 'OK' and reboot again to make those changes take effect. If
your current problem is based in defective drivers or bad/damaged software
(other than Windows) loaded up at boot time , those things will all be
bypassed, and you can then use Windows' tools in Safe Mode to sort out the
root cause of the problem. If the machine behaves itself on rebooting, that
would be proof enough (for me) that the problem lies not with Windows or the
PC's hardware, but with something that's been introduced later on. If you
draw that conclusion yourself, you will then need to go back into MSCONFIG,
look through the 'Startup' list and selectively re-enable everything that
looks to be 'kosher', one item at a time. After that, make a note of exactly
what you did, restart the machine in Normal Mode and see whether it's still
stable. If so, run MSCONFIG again and deal with the next item, reboot - and
so on until you isolate the true cause of the problem. It's a tedious
ethod - but straightforward and effective.
(Note that the MSCONFIG 'Startup' window's columns can be click-drag resized
in order to allow viewing of the entire contents - roll the cursor over the
column dividers to get a cruciform pointer, and then click-drag the column
out to whatever width you need. This trick also works on the RH end of the
'Location' divider - aruably the most important of the columns: scroll the
whole 'Startup' pane to the right, and then locate the column-end divider up
against the vertical scrollbar.
The 'Location' column itemises both Registry and 'Program ... Startup'
items - if you want rid of items from the Registry, you'll need to try first
to uninstall them through 'Control Panel ... Add/Remove Programs'. If that
fails, you may need to edit the Registry (very carefully indeed, if you're
feeling properly confident). You may find that one Registry location
contains all of them - HKEY_Local Machine\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENT
VERSION\RUN - which will simplify matters for you.)
At the end of this process, dump your firewall and anti-virus programs
and get ZoneAlarm 6 and Grisoft AVG7 (both are free for single, private
use). These will help to keep the 'clever' gitts out of your machine in
future (if that turns out to be the cause of the problem). I've used them
both for four years now and have absolutely no complaints - AVG can find
(and resolve) problems that Norton Anti-Virus is completely unaware of, and
my attitude towards McAfee's products dates back to finding the FORM virus
in a McAfee diskette's boot sector. ZoneAlarm tunes itself up as it goes in
order to make your PC invisible when online, as well as governing very
strictly (and controllably) what has access to the internet (and to your
machine) ... you should also consider Lavasoft's Ad-Aware 6, Spybot S&D and
SpywareBlaster programs to remove (and keep out) the malware merchants.
These programs are free for single, private use as well; adequate proof (for
me) of the existence of some sort of beneficent deity
)
Good luck with it - this sounds like a really smelly and annoying
problem, and the sooner you nail it the better.
Cheers,
Philip
