Startup takes 2 tries, freezes during 1st.

[Guest]

XP Pro - current
Behavior is identical during cold Start & Restart.
With standard boot.ini:
1st try freezes during splash screen with horizontal "in progress" bar
(which also freezes). No drive activity. I've left this for more than an
hour with no change.
2nd try after forced power-off starts normally in all regards (after
selecting Normal Startup option from Failed Startup screen).
No variance, always the same behavior.
No Events are logged from the 1st try.
I've turned on boot logging and there are no log entries from 1st try, even
if I go to Safe Mode on 2nd try.
I now have /SOS option in boot.ini:
1st try shows various things loading (too fast to read) then get SOS version
of Splash Screen which identifies OS version. I then get ~5 seconds of drive
activity before freeze.
2nd try appears the same except that disk checking messages appear quickly
on splash screen, reporting that the file systems are okay on the 3 volumes
on my boot disk. Startup proceeds normally.

I have reviewed the Startup process in TechNet articles but I don't find
references to display activity or to boot logging, so I can't determine where
it is beyond the inference that it hasn't gotten to Login.

This condition appeared on a very busy Spetember 6, 2007 during which I was
trying to update my graphics card drivers (ATI) which included installation
of Intel chpid utility. I spent a considerable amount of quality time in
640x480 before I got ATI's Catalyst uninstalled and my displays back. In
consequence of that I am not anxious to restore the system. I freely admit
to hypocrisy as I frequently advise people to back-up after an error rather
than potentially compound it, but I am driven to understand what is happening.

TIA

 

[createwindow]

Dear N..55,

I recommend that once you get your machine into safe mode, you
uninstall all video drivers and see if your PC will work normally in
VGA mode - restore your boot.ini to normal. Also, order a chkdsk /r
for the next reboot. This will check the system volume for file system
errors. (Chkdsk /f was a mandatory proceedure at Microsoft for any of
their production servers that kernel bugchecked - I think it still
is?).

The driver should "Just install" - it should not be difficult. You may
need to manually uninstall nonpresent devices - do a google search for
how to do that.

Hope that helps,

CreateWindow,

http://mymessagetaker.com
The while-you-were-out message program you have been looking for!

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply.

I hoped that the consistancy of the bahavior would trigger an "aha!" from
someone who was intimately familar with the boot/startup process.

I am, so far, unwilling to play with the drivers further both because the
existing bug might interfere with the installation process and because that
process might itself compound and obscure the nice, clean existing bug.

I ran chkdsk's on all partitions/volumes right after the bug appeared; no
errors were found. I did run another one on the boot partition Saturday
night; same result.

I agree that the drivers should "just install", but they didn't. The mfr.
has a more elaborate, safe-mode install procedure for such circumstances and
I intend to follow it when I am again willing to do so.

I regret having provided selected highlights of potentially probative events
on the day the bug appeared. The drivers are certainly a possible cause but
not sufficiently suggestive to me, at least until I can identify the
difference in machine state between the startups that hang and those that
don't.

I have found research into that difference to be frustrating but shall
continue.