Takes Several Trys to Boot to Windows - Pls Help

[Mackenrick]

My desktop computers take three to five power-ups to boot to Windows
completely. Here’s what happens. I turn on the computer and it starts the
boot process. Sometimes the Windows log-on screen displays and it hangs up.
Other times I enter my password, it continues to load Windows and I get to my
desktop. Here is where it almost always hangs up, at various stages of
loading. It often displays all my desktop folders and some of my systems
tray icons then hangs up. I have to hit the “RESET†button on the computer
to get it to try to boot up again. I usually have to do this three to five
times before it will boot to Windows to a point where it will allow me to
access the Start button and my desktop folders. When it does boot to Windows
to where I can use it, sometimes only some of the icons in the systems tray
are displayed, sometimes they are all displayed. Once they finally get fully
running, all the programs work fine but it takes so many reboots to get them
running.

Both of my computers are now doing this and my son’s computer is doing the
same thing. Any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank
you. Mike

All three computers are Pent 4, 2.4 or 3 gig, with 1 gig ram, running
Windows XP Hm SP2 with latest updates.

 

[John]

I have had this same problem for months now and posted this here without a
reply. I hope you have better luck and I hope to learn from it. I have
tried many things without result although disabling my NVIDIA graphics
software has slightly improved it but not completely. My event viewer does
not give me any indication of a problem either. My PC is about 3 years old.

 

[Mackenrick]

Hi John, thanks for the reply. It's some comfort knowing I'm not the only
one experiencing these problems.

My computer started experiencing this problem back in 2005. I tried a lot
of things to fix it without success. I gave up and have just been living
with it but now that three computers are doing the same thing, I want to
figure out what it is. Here’s what I’ve tried so far on the first computer
after completely checking it for Malware.

Completely cleaned the inside. Added another fan (even though heat is not an
issue with this machine). Replaced the power supply with a larger one (antec
400w which is more than enough for this machine). Replaced the video card.
Temporarily replace the RAM with the same type from a good machine (correct
RAM). Replaced both hard drives (Seagate 180gigs). Replace sound card (SB
Live). Replaced the dialup modem. Problem continued. (All these parts were
apparently good because I used them to build a computer for my grandkids and
that one works fine. I don’t think it’s a hardware issue since I now have
this problem on three different computers.


So then I looked at something other than hardware. (I now have this problem
on three computers so I don’t think it’s a hardware problem). One of the
things that was suggested was the possibility of something in the startup
items may be causing the problem so to try suppressing various items in
MSConfig. Well I know so little about MSConfig I was afraid to try it. I
had no idea where to start or what should or shouldn’t be there. Besides, if
I was getting lock-ups at the Windows Log On Screen, isn’t that before any of
these items even starts to load? By the way, is there a site that lists what
SHOULDN’T be in the STARTUP items?

So this is where I’m at. Sorry for the long post but it’s been a
complicated problem.

 

[John]

Hi Mac, grandchildren hey, you are one of my mob. You have been a busy boy.
It seems to me that somehow you have transferred the problem to the other
PC's. I also have XP Home SP2. My efforts in trying to locate the problem
were not so comprehensive as yours possibly because I am an amateur. Virus
and spyware checking I do regularly, sometimes also disk error checking and
defragmentation. I have also tried adjusting the hardware accelleration and
colour quality etc. all without result. The only slight improvement I got
was when I disabled my NVIDIA graphics driver and that was due to a
Microsoft message I received after a disk error check. It informed me that a
problem is caused by the NVIDIA graphics driver and that NVIDIA Corp.
currently have no solution. It also suggested trying to update the driver.
It did in fact require an update however it made no difference to the
problem and I have since disabled it.

''Spybot Search and Destroy" may be of help to you in tools>system startup.
Please let me know if you are getting somewhere, it doesn't appear as if
anyone else has any ideas.

John.