XP PRO SP2 Hangs at Logo Screen on Start Up

[Guest]

I've run out of ideas and need the forum's help. I have a Dell OptiPlex
GX240 (service tag 2TCH011) that I'm giving to my daughter to use. It has
been starting up and shuting down normally for months. I just copied some
files from her old hard drive directly to this computer by mounting it
temporaraly as HD2 then removing it. These were just her "My Documents"
files.

After this was done, the next time I tried to start it up from an "Off"
condition, it hung (froze) at the XP Logo screen after the little timer bar
went across 3 times. A retry from a power off start was the same. Then I
tried starting in Safe Mode and it went on fine. When I tried a restart from
the Safe Mode it started normaly just fine. Even more restarts after that
were no problem.

However, if I shutdown the computer to an "Off" position, the whole problem
starts again and I have to go back to Safe Mode then restart it to run
normally. I've try all key combinations when it hangs up and none will get
it past the hang. It seems to be hanging at the same point where the Logo
screen will normally blink for a moment as well as the key-board lights
blink. But instead of doing that the screen will just freeze with the Logo
showing and the timer bar stopped.

I've already run "Registry Booster 2" as well as CCleaner and have done a
defrag on the HD and registry. I also tried using the MSconfig diagnostic
start up with no change to the hang. All the copied files were remove too.
Any thoughts?

 

[Guest]

The presence of a new 'ntuser.dat' is probably confusing the logon utility.
Take ownership of the imported files, and be sure the ntuser.dat is either
deleted, or used to copy over an existing one.
Q308421 - HOW TO Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q308421

 

[Guest]

I forgot this link
How to restore a user profile in Windows 2000:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314045

 

[Guest]

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the information. I thought you were on the right track with your
suggestion. I opened your first link and followed it to the letter. I made
her name an Administrator and gave her Full Permission on the entire C drive
as well as ALL Folders/Sub-Folders.

The computer will still hang as the Logo screen comes up and the little Blue
progress bar is running. After the bar gets to the 3rd pass it will just
freeze about 3/4 of the way over and go no further into the start process. I
then power down the machine and reboot in Safe Mode to get it going again. A
restart from there will again make a normal start.

The only other thing I changed before this all started was adding a 2nd CD
drive to the tower. It shows that it is working okay. I'm still stumped.
HELP!!

Jerry

 

[Guest]

Hi Mark,
Well I feel kinda dumb. I got to thinking about how this machine was
hanging up in the early stage of the boot process. Since the only hardware
change was the addition of an older CD Drive in the #2 slot, I tried
disconnecting it. Wallah! She starts right up no problems. I tried several
combinations of service pin locations on the back of both drives with no
sucess. So I pulled it out and put in another drive and that solved the
problem.

Thanks anyway for your suggestions. It got me to start digging further.

Jerry