XP Pro wont boot

[harris1971]

i had 2 new pcs ( installed with XP Pro) at work yesterday and one of them,
after installing a lot of my programs today, had a page come up saying the
computer had had a major problem and would shut down.
when i restarted it i get the screen with all the tests, then the windows xp
logo screen with the scrolling bar, then the welcome screen with sound then
it sometimes shows my desktop background but more often just goes black.
it will start in safe mode but if i choose the option of sytem restore i get
the black screen again.
i can control-alt-delete and it shows no programs running although i can get
"new tasks" to open some programs (IE and OE both say they are not properly
installed)
any ideas as i cannot get hold of the company that sold the the pc until
monday and this is very annoying..

Mark Harris

 

[davetest]

i had 2 new pcs ( installed with XP Pro) at work yesterday and one of them,
after installing a lot of my programs today, had a page come up saying the
computer had had a major problem and would shut down.
when i restarted it i get the screen with all the tests, then the windows xp
logo screen with the scrolling bar, then the welcome screen with sound then
it sometimes shows my desktop background but more often just goes black.
it will start in safe mode but if i choose the option of sytem restore i get
the black screen again.
i can control-alt-delete and it shows no programs running although i can get
"new tasks" to open some programs (IE and OE both say they are not properly
installed)
any ideas as i cannot get hold of the company that sold the the pc until
monday and this is very annoying..

Mark Harris

boot up in safemode and open the event viewer.
(eventvwr.msc from the RUN box)

There may be some specific info that will help...
Dave