PC boots but XP doesn't

[DavidJ]

For the past couple of weeks, the PC has been acting
slugish. I've recently emptied the IE temp folders, as
well as searching for and deleting *.tmp & *.bak files.
I've also defragged the HD, and this all seems to help a
little....

I was awakened early this morning to the sound of XP
rebooting, (I must of had the volme turned way up) and
when I got to the PC later on, I was faced with a blank
screen and a frozen mouse. When I recycled the power I
got past the POST but then the PC just sat there with the
HD light on. If I boot into SAFE MODE, after 1/2 dozen
files get loaded, everything stops.

If I boot with the XP CD, I can see & "navigate" the C
Drive, and when I booted with my Drive Image CD, I was
able to run their chkdsk utility and everything showed up
fine.

I've also disconnected external devices... ie.. the USB
hub and the network.

I'm reluctant to restore a previous backup rigt now
because I'd first like to figure out what's going on.

Any idea's ?

David...

 

[DavidJ]

I should also add that I've ran diagnostics on the HD
with the Maxtor Diagnotic utility and the drive is
certified clean. I've also ran DocMem several days ago
and the memory chips (3*256) passsed with flying colors.