Computer hangs at various points during startup, shut down and switchuser

[Canid]

I don't expect anyone to be able to tell me the exact cause of these
problems, as I realize it could be any one of a thousand things
specific to my software.
But if anyone can help me diagnose the problem, it would be much
appreciated.

I have Windows XP Pro. version 5.1 Service Pack 2
Recently we have had more and more frequents hangs when starting up,
usually at the windows loading screen (the one with the strip of blue
scrolling along the bottom) but sometimes at the login screen.
It will take 3 or more tries to start it successfully.

It will also hang on the "Saving your settings" screen when I go to
shut down.

Using the "Switch User" option under logoff will consistently cause it
to freeze if I try to go back to a session I have switched out of.
This has been a problem since I first installed the OS (two years
ago), and reinstalling everything did not fix it. It may be unrelated
to the recent problems.

What I've tried:
Defragmenting both Hard Drives (same physical disk)
Disk Cleanup
Windows Live One Care full service scan http://safety.live.com/site/en-ca/default.htm?s_cid=sah

Any suggestions?

 

[bojimbo26]

I don't expect anyone to be able to tell me the exact cause of these
problems, as I realize it could be any one of a thousand things
specific to my software.
But if anyone can help me diagnose the problem, it would be much
appreciated.

I have Windows XP Pro. version 5.1 Service Pack 2
Recently we have had more and more frequents hangs when starting up,
usually at the windows loading screen (the one with the strip of blue
scrolling along the bottom) but sometimes at the login screen.
It will take 3 or more tries to start it successfully.

It will also hang on the "Saving your settings" screen when I go to
shut down.

Using the "Switch User" option under logoff will consistently cause it
to freeze if I try to go back to a session I have switched out of.
This has been a problem since I first installed the OS (two years
ago), and reinstalling everything did not fix it. It may be unrelated
to the recent problems.

What I've tried:
Defragmenting both Hard Drives (same physical disk)
Disk Cleanup
Windows Live One Care full service scan http://safety.live.com/site/en-ca/default.htm?s_cid=sah

Any suggestions?

Corrupted user accounts ?

 

[randrade]

First thing I would do is check the condition of the hardware. If this is
good then I would check to see what exacly is running in startup. Then I
would actually see how much RAM is installed.