XP boot hangs on black screen with scrolling blue line - how to troubleshoot?

[kindalost]

I just did a repair install of Windows XP on a computer and now it is
hanging on the startup screen (Black Windows XP with the scrolling blue
bar). I let it sit there for two hours & it doesn't change & there is no
hard drive activity after the first minute or so. I am at a loss as to how
I can troubleshoot this.

I actually did repair installs on two computers. Both had stable XP SP3
installations. I did the repair installs because I upgraded the
motherboard on both computers (Intel board --> Intel board) & a repair
install has always worked to recognize the new hardware.On PC#1, the
repair install worked flawlessly. On PC#2, the boot is hanging on the
scrolling blue bar screen.

There were no hiccups during the XP install. Only after setup was finished
am I stuck on the scrolling blue bar screen. I can boot into safe mode and
I had a look at device manager. All of the devices are installed, no
yellow or red marks or oddball entries, duplicates or hardware from the
old motherboard.

I had a look at the startup items. There didn't seem to be anything
unusual.. adobe reader speed launcher, quicktime, nvidia control panel, et
al. I did try removing all of the startup items and the boot still hangs.
Autoexec.nt & Config.nt don't show anything unusual. Nor does Doug Knox's
startup tracker, run from safe mode.

Windows XP Pro SP3, Asus P4P800-VM, 3Ghz P4, Geforce 6600GT
no cards other than the video card plugged into the motherboard

CMOS /BIOS looks normal, clearing /resetting the BIOS didn't do anything.
No antivirus, ad blocker, firewall, etc installed at this time.

Helllllp?

 

[choro]

I just did a repair install of Windows XP on a computer and now it is
hanging on the startup screen (Black Windows XP with the scrolling blue
bar). I let it sit there for two hours& it doesn't change& there is no
hard drive activity after the first minute or so. I am at a loss as to how
I can troubleshoot this.

I actually did repair installs on two computers. Both had stable XP SP3
installations. I did the repair installs because I upgraded the
motherboard on both computers (Intel board --> Intel board)& a repair
install has always worked to recognize the new hardware.On PC#1, the
repair install worked flawlessly. On PC#2, the boot is hanging on the
scrolling blue bar screen.

There were no hiccups during the XP install. Only after setup was finished
am I stuck on the scrolling blue bar screen. I can boot into safe mode and
I had a look at device manager. All of the devices are installed, no
yellow or red marks or oddball entries, duplicates or hardware from the
old motherboard.

I had a look at the startup items. There didn't seem to be anything
unusual.. adobe reader speed launcher, quicktime, nvidia control panel, et
al. I did try removing all of the startup items and the boot still hangs.
Autoexec.nt& Config.nt don't show anything unusual. Nor does Doug Knox's
startup tracker, run from safe mode.

Windows XP Pro SP3, Asus P4P800-VM, 3Ghz P4, Geforce 6600GT
no cards other than the video card plugged into the motherboard

CMOS /BIOS looks normal, clearing /resetting the BIOS didn't do anything.
No antivirus, ad blocker, firewall, etc installed at this time.

Helllllp?

This may sound simplistic but have you tried replacing the button cell
battery? I might be on its last legs and the cause of the trouble.
Replacing the battery will of course reset CMOS and BIOS and you won't
have to short the CMOS jumper.

And good luck!

 

[kindalost]

This may sound simplistic but have you tried replacing the button cell
battery? I might be on its last legs and the cause of the trouble.
Replacing the battery will of course reset CMOS and BIOS and you won't
have to short the CMOS jumper.

And good luck!

Thanks for the suggestion. I had put a new battery in when the motherboard
was installed (just before the repair install).

Not sure what to look at next.

 

[philo]

Thanks for the suggestion. I had put a new battery in when the motherboard
was installed (just before the repair install).

Not sure what to look at next.

can you boot to safte mode?

Hit F8 just before the OS loads and see if you csan get to safe mode

 

[kindalost]

can you boot to safte mode?

Hit F8 just before the OS loads and see if you csan get to safe mode

Yes, I can boot to safe mode

 

[kindalost]

On Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:26:08 -0800, kindalost

I also tried a clean boot via msconfig /selective startup

I unchecked everything, so that statup is not using win.ini, sys.ini or
any startup items. I also tried unchecking all of the non-microsoft
services & all non-essential microsoft services. And it still hangs on the
scrolling blue bar screen during boot.

Just did a comprehensive check of the ram, it tests OK.

???

 

[kindalost]

On Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:26:08 -0800, kindalost

Hard drive passes SMART & Seatools diagnostic

What next?

 

[choro]

I just did a repair install of Windows XP on a computer and now it is
hanging on the startup screen (Black Windows XP with the scrolling blue
bar). I let it sit there for two hours& it doesn't change& there is no
hard drive activity after the first minute or so. I am at a loss as to how
I can troubleshoot this.

I actually did repair installs on two computers. Both had stable XP SP3
installations. I did the repair installs because I upgraded the
motherboard on both computers (Intel board --> Intel board)& a repair
install has always worked to recognize the new hardware.On PC#1, the
repair install worked flawlessly. On PC#2, the boot is hanging on the
scrolling blue bar screen.

There were no hiccups during the XP install. Only after setup was finished
am I stuck on the scrolling blue bar screen. I can boot into safe mode and
I had a look at device manager. All of the devices are installed, no
yellow or red marks or oddball entries, duplicates or hardware from the
old motherboard.

I had a look at the startup items. There didn't seem to be anything
unusual.. adobe reader speed launcher, quicktime, nvidia control panel, et
al. I did try removing all of the startup items and the boot still hangs.
Autoexec.nt& Config.nt don't show anything unusual. Nor does Doug Knox's
startup tracker, run from safe mode.

Windows XP Pro SP3, Asus P4P800-VM, 3Ghz P4, Geforce 6600GT
no cards other than the video card plugged into the motherboard

CMOS /BIOS looks normal, clearing /resetting the BIOS didn't do anything.
No antivirus, ad blocker, firewall, etc installed at this time.

Helllllp?

Another idea...
Did you do a chkdsk before doing the repair install? Is it possible that
a critical file got written on a corrupt sector?

 

[kindalost]

Another idea...
Did you do a chkdsk before doing the repair install? Is it possible that
a critical file got written on a corrupt sector?

Seatools reports no corrupted sectors, so I don't think that this is the
issue.

 

[kindalost]

Another idea...
Did you do a chkdsk before doing the repair install? Is it possible that
a critical file got written on a corrupt sector?

I just ran chkdsk from the recovery console to be certain & it didn't find
any errors. It was a good idea though. I'm thinking that it is probably a
driver conflict.. but I have no idea how to troubleshoot that.

I uninstalled the video drivers & tried booting with the basic VGA driver,
then after reinstalling the proper 6600GT driver. And I've uninstalled
about half of the software on the PC so far.

 

[kindalost]

On Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:26:08 -0800, kindalost

Well, I have XP booting again. This after uninstalling two dozen programs
plus half a dozen MS updates e.g. net framework, etc from safe mode.

It isn't clear to me what was causing the boot to hang. But I imagine that
I'll find out as I reinstall the programs one by one.

Thanks for the help & Happy New Year!

 

[choro]

On Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:26:08 -0800, kindalost

Well, I have XP booting again. This after uninstalling two dozen programs
plus half a dozen MS updates e.g. net framework, etc from safe mode.

It isn't clear to me what was causing the boot to hang. But I imagine that
I'll find out as I reinstall the programs one by one.

That's what I was just about to say; that you should do one thing (or at
most just a few things) at a time and then check that everything's still
OK.

But don't worry. It's happened to us all at some time or other. Advice
given to others isn't always what we practise. Do as I say and not as I
do, goes the expression!

We all live and learn. Glad that you have at last sorted the problem
out. Soon you will find the culprit!

 

[philo]

Yes, I can boot to safe mode

Fist thing I'd do is run msconfig

and take all applications out of startup.



I'd go into device manager and disable any devices that show a conflict