XP freeze on Start up

[Guest]

My pc has been sluggish for quite a while. I have tried the advice given on
this and other sites with respect to spyware removal, but I "appear" to be
clean. [Ad aware, spybot, and I have PC tools Antivirus, Spyware Doctor & Reg
cleaner]. Shutting down has always been a problem in that it just hangs there
and waits for me to hit the power off button after "Saving your settings"
yawns through it's final tasks. Start up has slowed to several (~5) minutes.
I thought that perhaps an increase in RAM might help (as everyone says "you
can't have too much") so I increased from 1Gb to 3Gb, no initial noticeable
difference. Yesterday I downloaded all the M'soft security updates and was
requested to reactivate windows which I did over the net. I updated the
chipset drivers, the video drivers (radeon) and the sound drivers (Creative
audigy). The sound drivers was the last thing I did and I think that prior to
starting this part of the process the pc speed had improved somewhat. Anyway,
now when I start up the pc freezes at the start up screen or if it gets
through that, at the logon screen. I can get into safe mode but not sure what
to do. If I go back via restore do I lose all the driver updates?
Any advice please?
Thank you

 

[Leonard Grey]

Hello: Chrys:

If you are able to boot into Safe Mode without any trouble then the
problem most likely has to do with something that is trying to load with
Windows. Follow these procedures to identify the culprit(s):

How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434

You may be aided by Event Viewer.

 

[Guest]

Leonard,
Thank you for the speedy response. I'll follow the advice and report back
later (the problem is on my home machine). Really appreciate your help.
Rgds,
Chrys

Hello: Chrys:

If you are able to boot into Safe Mode without any trouble then the
problem most likely has to do with something that is trying to load with
Windows. Follow these procedures to identify the culprit(s):

How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434

You may be aided by Event Viewer.

---
Leonard Grey
Since no one was buying 'Earl Grey'

My pc has been sluggish for quite a while. I have tried the advice given on
this and other sites with respect to spyware removal, but I "appear" to be
clean. [Ad aware, spybot, and I have PC tools Antivirus, Spyware Doctor & Reg
cleaner]. Shutting down has always been a problem in that it just hangs there
and waits for me to hit the power off button after "Saving your settings"
yawns through it's final tasks. Start up has slowed to several (~5) minutes.
I thought that perhaps an increase in RAM might help (as everyone says "you
can't have too much") so I increased from 1Gb to 3Gb, no initial noticeable
difference. Yesterday I downloaded all the M'soft security updates and was
requested to reactivate windows which I did over the net. I updated the
chipset drivers, the video drivers (radeon) and the sound drivers (Creative
audigy). The sound drivers was the last thing I did and I think that prior to
starting this part of the process the pc speed had improved somewhat. Anyway,
now when I start up the pc freezes at the start up screen or if it gets
through that, at the logon screen. I can get into safe mode but not sure what
to do. If I go back via restore do I lose all the driver updates?
Any advice please?
Thank you

 

[Guest]

I checked the site advised by Leonard but am concerned that I'm not
experienced enough to edit the registry.
The problem persists in that out of about every 10 attempts to logon I can
get in maybe once so I need to maximise whatever diagnostics I can do (& I'm
not very know-how anyway). It seems that the Windows downloads I thought I
had installed in fact did not install (I've read a similar problem on the
Windows newsgroup site) so I'm trying to get that sorted as a 1st step. When
I have to restart the pc for the changes to take effect I'm back to square
one. It's advice I need on what I can resolve in SAFE mode for me to move fwd
I think. I've tried to disable what I think may be possible conflicts in
msconfig start up but problem still there. I restored back to 3 days ago
before I started my "upgrade drivers" mission. Still freezes. I tried
plonking the recovery disk in the cd drive and restart but the pc didn't see
it. I ran PCTools Reg Mechanic and though it found loads of faults it didn't
resolve the start up conflict. I suspect the problem may now be the ATI
Radeon driver update as I have read elsewhere that Radeon has caused
conflicts. I'm combing whatever sites I can find to get more advice but have
to wait till I get home to try them out. I think it's great if you are able
(confident) to edit the reg but I read warning signs everywhere & suspect
that I may make matters worse. Don't know if this helps but the Windows logo
is very faint on the "Windows is starting up" screen ?? Most times the mouse
pointer just freezes but sometimes the pointer remains active, just no
further progress.
How is a "repair install of XP" carried out? Also, what are the max
diagnostics I can do in SAFE to identify the problem?
Thanks, and please keep the advice coming.
rgds,
Chrys

Leonard,
Thank you for the speedy response. I'll follow the advice and report back
later (the problem is on my home machine). Really appreciate your help.
Rgds,
Chrys

Hello: Chrys:

If you are able to boot into Safe Mode without any trouble then the
problem most likely has to do with something that is trying to load with
Windows. Follow these procedures to identify the culprit(s):

How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434

You may be aided by Event Viewer.

---
Leonard Grey
Since no one was buying 'Earl Grey'

My pc has been sluggish for quite a while. I have tried the advice given on
this and other sites with respect to spyware removal, but I "appear" to be
clean. [Ad aware, spybot, and I have PC tools Antivirus, Spyware Doctor & Reg
cleaner]. Shutting down has always been a problem in that it just hangs there
and waits for me to hit the power off button after "Saving your settings"
yawns through it's final tasks. Start up has slowed to several (~5) minutes.
I thought that perhaps an increase in RAM might help (as everyone says "you
can't have too much") so I increased from 1Gb to 3Gb, no initial noticeable
difference. Yesterday I downloaded all the M'soft security updates and was
requested to reactivate windows which I did over the net. I updated the
chipset drivers, the video drivers (radeon) and the sound drivers (Creative
audigy). The sound drivers was the last thing I did and I think that prior to
starting this part of the process the pc speed had improved somewhat. Anyway,
now when I start up the pc freezes at the start up screen or if it gets
through that, at the logon screen. I can get into safe mode but not sure what
to do. If I go back via restore do I lose all the driver updates?
Any advice please?
Thank you