Have to boot into safe mode first

[RTGR]

I just installed WinXP Home Edition. In order for me to
be able to boot into "normal" mode I must first boot into
safe mode and then restart. If I do not do this safe mode
boot first then, when booting into normal mode, the
system freezes at the splash screen (the screen with that
green bar-- it just stops and hangs).

This happens whether I first turn on the machine or have
already gone into normal mode (again..by restarting from
safe mode first) and wish to restart from that. No
matter, I always have to restart from safe mode.

I called the MS help line TWICE and they had me do some
crazy things with startup services and renaming driver
(*.sys) files. Nothing seems to work. I don't necessarily
think it is a driver issue because I can actually get to
Windows normal mode and all of my devices seem to work
fine. A check with Device Manager confirms all this for
me.

Does anyone have a clue? -- because neither I nor MS tech
support does?

 

[Kelly]

This generally has to do with io.sys.

Keeping within the bounds of XP, start here:

How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP
How to Use Clean Boot Troubleshooting for Windows XP
How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_conflicts.htm

How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry that Prevents Windows XP from
Starting
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q307545

How to Disable a Service that Prevents Windows XP from Booting
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q244/9/05.asp

Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to
Start Win XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm