Windows XP not booting

[jps74]

Hello, all. I hope someone can help.

I'm running Windows XP (pretty sure SP3 installed by now) on an old Compaq
Presario desktop.

Yesterday, I was noticing that things were quite slow and the hard drive was
whirring like mad. I shut down normally, waited a few minutes, and rebooted.
The windows logo on the black screen (with the status bar) came up briefly,
the screen went black (as usual), and then the windows logo came up on the
light blue background....and froze. The hard drive seemed active, but even
after letting it sit and stew overnight, nothing happened. Same logo in the
morning. It didn't get to the list of windows users in order to logon.

I could only shut down by holding down the power button on the tower. When
I restarted, it checked the drives, and then went to the windows logo on the
light blue background again....and hung there.

I tried starting in safe mode, last known good configuration, safe mode w/
command prompt...all to no avail. In each case, I can't get to the list of
windows users to logon.

Ideas? Help??

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hello, all. I hope someone can help.

I'm running Windows XP (pretty sure SP3 installed by now) on an old Compaq
Presario desktop.

Yesterday, I was noticing that things were quite slow and the hard drive
was
whirring like mad. I shut down normally, waited a few minutes, and
rebooted.
The windows logo on the black screen (with the status bar) came up
briefly,
the screen went black (as usual), and then the windows logo came up on the
light blue background....and froze. The hard drive seemed active, but
even
after letting it sit and stew overnight, nothing happened. Same logo in
the
morning. It didn't get to the list of windows users in order to logon.

I could only shut down by holding down the power button on the tower.
When
I restarted, it checked the drives, and then went to the windows logo on
the
light blue background again....and hung there.

I tried starting in safe mode, last known good configuration, safe mode w/
command prompt...all to no avail. In each case, I can't get to the list
of
windows users to logon.

Ideas? Help??

Your hard disk may be on the way out. Download and run the diagnostic
utility that the manufacturer has on his web site.

 

[Alias ;-)]

Hello, all. I hope someone can help.

I'm running Windows XP (pretty sure SP3 installed by now) on an old Compaq
Presario desktop.

Yesterday, I was noticing that things were quite slow and the hard drive was
whirring like mad. I shut down normally, waited a few minutes, and rebooted.
The windows logo on the black screen (with the status bar) came up briefly,
the screen went black (as usual), and then the windows logo came up on the
light blue background....and froze. The hard drive seemed active, but even
after letting it sit and stew overnight, nothing happened. Same logo in the
morning. It didn't get to the list of windows users in order to logon.

I could only shut down by holding down the power button on the tower. When
I restarted, it checked the drives, and then went to the windows logo on the
light blue background again....and hung there.

I tried starting in safe mode, last known good configuration, safe mode w/
command prompt...all to no avail. In each case, I can't get to the list of
windows users to logon.

Ideas? Help??

Try this: turn off the computer. Pull the electrical plug from the
computer. Wait about 30 seconds. Plug the computer back in and fire it up.

If that doesn't work, you may need a new hard drive or some other
hardware is failing.

Alias