XP SP1 - works in safe mode, but fails to restart

[Peter Richards]

Hi,

The build on the XP is 2600.xpsp1.020828-1920: Service Pack 1

It had some virus, which is now gone/quaranteened, but we can only
boot it up in safe mode. In SM, we can use IE and other thngs okay.
Then when we try to reboot, it _tries_ for a while, reboots, and then
the msg about safe mode,etc.

I don't know what files to check, but there are two I have found with
todays date:

c:\windows\ntbtlog.txt
c:\windows\system32\catroot32\dberr.txt

We would much prefer to try and fix the problem that do a re-install.

Please advise what to look for in the above files, or other settings.

Thanks,

Peter

 

[Richard in AZ]

One Idea for you to try.
In safe mode, go to START - RUN and type in "msconfig" (without the "
marks).
In the START section, turn off every thing and restart.
If it starts in NORMAL mode, go back to msconfig and turn on one item at a
time until it fails.
This will tell you if and what startup software is killing your system.

 

[Peter Richards]

One Idea for you to try.
In safe mode, go to START - RUN and type in "msconfig" (without the "
marks).
In the START section, turn off every thing and restart.

There was a 'startup' tab, I "disabled all", which unchecked
everything.

If it starts in NORMAL mode, go back to msconfig and turn on one item at a
time until it fails.
This will tell you if and what startup software is killing your system.

On the restart, it again _tried_ to start in NORMAL, but reboots and
then comes up with the safe mode options.

I noticed under msconfig, there was an option to start up in
diagnostic mode, maybe I should try that.

Also, one thing that puzzles me, is at boot time, there is the one
beep, it then displays the MSI logo, and a few seconds later, another
beep ?? There are a few sites that tell what the beeps mean, like 1
short, two long is ..... , but this is two single beeps, several
seconds apart. I think it is at post boot time; I may try looking that
up.

Thanks,

Peter

 

[Peter Richards]

Found a decent registry cleaner, and that found heaps of errors. Ran
it and now the XP box boots up okay.

Although it refuses to backup the registry, gets about 10% complete,
hangs on some font, hangs for about 30 seconds, then the computer
reboots ??

Peter