Start Up Not Working Right

[Karie]

I have Windows XP on a Sony Vaio PC. When I startup the
PC the mouse pointer does not display the hour glass so I
have no idea when the system is actually booted up. The
start up process seems to stall and then restart. But the
mouse pointer allows me to click on Programs...only
nothing happens or the "flashlight" the system is
searching. Sony says this is how XP starts up, and they
had me delete all the checked items in the System Config
Utility under the start up tab. This did not fix the
problem.

I have used XP before and not encountered this problem.
Any suggestions on how to get the hour glass to indicate
that startup is still in progress or how to get startup
to work properly?

 

[Sharon F]

I have Windows XP on a Sony Vaio PC. When I startup the
PC the mouse pointer does not display the hour glass so I
have no idea when the system is actually booted up. The
start up process seems to stall and then restart. But the
mouse pointer allows me to click on Programs...only
nothing happens or the "flashlight" the system is
searching. Sony says this is how XP starts up, and they
had me delete all the checked items in the System Config
Utility under the start up tab. This did not fix the
problem.

I have used XP before and not encountered this problem.
Any suggestions on how to get the hour glass to indicate
that startup is still in progress or how to get startup
to work properly?

Karie, I hover my mouse over the XP taskbar at startup. If XP is still busy
loading things up, I get an hourglass. If it stays as a regular arrow icon,
I figure it's good to go and usually have no trouble proceeding from that
point on. Also, if my system is getting overly slow at startup, I run
defrag for a few days in a row. Seems to help.