can't boot up XP past the intro screen

[RKSmith]

Hi all --
I am having trouble booting up XP. When I turn on the machine, I get to the
screen where it tells me it's a Windows product and I have the F2 or F12 to
go the set-up menus. The next screen is black with a blinking cursor in the
upper left hand corner. It doesn't go anywhere from there. When you cycle
the power, you're in the same place. *Sometimes* I can move through to the
log-on screen, but it's hanging more frequently. You can bet the next time I
make it through I'm going to back it all up (although I backed up not that
long ago).

Tips? Am I going to have to reinstall XP? Should XP boot up and I can
clean things up or defrag, what should I do?

THANK YOU!

 

[Leonard Grey]

Any clues as to what might be causing this? What were you doing on the
computer just before this problem started? Any error messages? Without
further information from you, we can only guess.

If you're lucky, you have a hardware failure. A professional technician
can check your computer's hardware.

If you're unlucky, malware has trashed your computer.

 

[RKSmith]

Thanks for responding so quickly! I had Microsoft 2003, Microsoft 2007,
Firefox, and iTunes all open at the same time. I was able to boot up this
time by getting into the Setup menu, and changing up the boot order (which is
what I've done in the past), saving, and exiting. The reason I rebooted in
the first place was because iTunes froze and couldn't be forcibly quit,
either. iTunes has been problematic like that, but I am also the type that
likes 40 applications open at once. I'm inclined to think this is
hardware-related as I'm pretty careful about the programs I install and the
web-surfing I do.

While I have it on and running, I'm backing up my entire hard drive to be
safe. What steps do you recommend then?

Thanks!
Rachel

 

[Leonard Grey]

If you like to have 40 applications open at once you're living by the
sword. Best of luck to you.

 

[Jim]

Thanks for responding so quickly! I had Microsoft 2003, Microsoft 2007,
Firefox, and iTunes all open at the same time. I was able to boot up this
time by getting into the Setup menu, and changing up the boot order (which
is
what I've done in the past), saving, and exiting. The reason I rebooted
in
the first place was because iTunes froze and couldn't be forcibly quit,
either. iTunes has been problematic like that, but I am also the type
that
likes 40 applications open at once. I'm inclined to think this is
hardware-related as I'm pretty careful about the programs I install and
the
web-surfing I do.

While I have it on and running, I'm backing up my entire hard drive to be
safe. What steps do you recommend then?

Thanks!
Rachel

I use ATI to backup my computers. It works quite well.
Jim