Hello Lindsay,
Without having a boot log available for inspection I'll just go through a
few of the basics. This problem sounds most likely to be (with just the basic
information that was provided) either some form of malware that's wreaking
havoc on your system, or a driver or other software conflict (which isn't my
first guess because you're not receiving any error messages besides the
"Cannot initialize..." message and because it seems that your system is going
through the normal shutdown process - the "Windows is shutting down" message).
So to try with some basic help: Boot your computer in Safe Mode. Start your
computer and keep pressing the F8 key until you get to the 'Advanced Options'
menu. Select Safe Mode with Networking. After your computer boots up it might
look a little funny because it's only using basic display drivers that only
allow a 640 x 480 screen resolution with only very basic graphic colors.
From here you can try a malware inspection and removal tool from either:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx
or
http://www.ewido.net/en/
The one from microsoft is free, and the one from ewido provides a free trial.
If still no luck then look at startup problems after booting into safe mode.
You can get a fairly basic startup tool from:
http://www.download.com/StartUp-Tool/3000-2105_4-10465586.html?tag=pub.
Run the tool and look for anything suspicious and disable it by unchecking
it. If you don't know if something is suspicious or not try googling the
*.exe filename and search the results.
If these find nothing then you might have other problems. Try going into
Start -> Programs -> System Tools -> System Restore and then choosing a
restore date from before the problem started happening. The computer will
restore files and then reboot. Hopefully this will fix your problem.
If this doesn't work then go back into the 'Advanced Options' menu via the
'F8' key and choose 'Last Known Good Configuration'.
If the problem still presists then your options are running out short of
taking it somewhere. There is one last-ditch effort that could be used
though. You could run a repair from your Windows installation disk. Put the
disk into your CD drive and turn the computer on. If it says to press a key
to boot from the CD then go ahead and press any key. At the setup screen you
will want to press Enter. At the next screen press F8 to agree to the
license. At the next screen you will see your existing XP installation, press
the 'R' key to repair it and follow any prompts to repair your installation.
If none of this helps then I can't be of further help without more
information like a boot log.
Hope this helps. Dan.
