XP Hangs at "Windows is starting up"

[Bob Johnston]

Running XP Home on an Acer Aspire Laptop. Everything was running OK but
suddenly today at startup I get a "beep" and a fleeting screen which is too
fast to see and then the light blue"windows is statring up" screen which
just hangs there for ever. I can start in Safe Mode but not in "Last known
good configuration". Is this a registry problem and how can I fix it (System
restore doesn't help either)

 

[Vanguard]

in message

Running XP Home on an Acer Aspire Laptop. Everything was running OK
but
suddenly today at startup I get a "beep" and a fleeting screen which
is too
fast to see and then the light blue"windows is statring up" screen
which
just hangs there for ever. I can start in Safe Mode but not in "Last
known
good configuration". Is this a registry problem and how can I fix it
(System
restore doesn't help either)

If you can start in Safe Mode then you have a driver or startup program
causing the problem. If you disable all the startup programs (and there
are more then just what msconfig.exe will show you) and the problem
remains when you reboot into normal mode (without all the startup
programs) then the problem is with a driver.

You aren't so foolish as to leave Windows Update enabled so Microsoft
can pollute your system whenever they want with updates, right?

 

[Bob Johnston]

Thanks for that Vanguard, I'll try that. The fleeting screen that comes
every time before the "beep" and then the"windows is starting up" looks like
it says something about administrator privelege but it dissappears in a few
seconds and seem to be sitting"behind" the light blue startup screen, if
that is any help to anyone else to try and further diagnose