XP hangs when booting

[Guest]

My system hangs during startup. The blue XP progress indicator stops and
starts spasmodically once the system hangs. Prior to this a system message
apologises for a problem and gives option of starting up in safe mode. When I
choose this option, a list of device drivers appears but then the system
hangs; AGP is the last driver in the list. To be clear, the system does not
enter safe mode.

When I start Recovery Console from the installation disk, I get the message
that there are no hard drives and thus Setup cannot continue. I have two hard
drives configured as a Raid 0 array. I can hear both disks spinning and their
heads seeking. I assume the device drivers referred to above were read off
the hard drives; can someone confirm that please? So I assume the hard drives
are not necessarily the cause of the problem.

I don't want to do do a full system restore and lose data. Could this
problem be due to a virus? Any suggestions for fixing this system would be
much appreciated,
TIA ... Greg

 

[Gerry]

Some suggestions.

Have you tried this approach?
How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353/en-us

Also look for Error Reports in the System log in Event Viewer.
Please post copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in
the System and Application logs in Event Viewer for the last boot. No
Information Reports or Duplicates please. Indicate which also appear in
a previous boot.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning
of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description
are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you
should double click for further information. You can copy using copy
and paste. Often the link will, however, say there is no further
information.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event
Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties,
Hardware,Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?

What is your Windows XP CD as it is described on the face of the CD?

What is your computer make and model? How old is it?



--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info Gerry. I can't do what you suggest because XP does not
load successfully. It doesn't get as far as the login box. Please take
another look, .... Greg

 

[Guest]

I have now installed a new hard drive and will commence a new installation of
XP on it. Recovery Console still can't see my RAID array even though the
hardware/BIOS can do so. The installation setup cannot see the array either,
the only drive it found available for the installation of XP was the new one.
It looks to me like the XP drivers for RAID have been damaged. Hopefully the
data on the array has not. Hopefully I will get a chance to fix the old
operating system and so not have to go through the complete re-installation
process. I will let you know what happens; in meantime any expert advice will
be appreciated. TIA ... Greg