booting problems

Guys,

a few days ago my pc started freezing on the windows starup logo, the process bar would just stop. I have been unable to get past this at all!

I can load up in start mode without a problem.
I have tryed system restore points with no luck
I have tryed using the following commands in recovery console with no luck:
chkdsk /p (did come up with errors)
chkdsk /r (took for ever to repair but still no luck)
fixboot
fixmbr

Looking on forums and alot of people are having similar problems. Here is what they have said worked for them which also hasnt made any difference!

replacing SATA cables
reseating Graphics card
removing all PCI cards (I dont have any, just the graphics and I cant take that out as there is no onboard graphics to test with!)

Im at the end of my teather with this! any ideas?

thanks

I'll assume where you said start mode it was a typo and you meant safe mode.. (although if you were starting Windows in stop mode that might be the problem ;) )
Have you tried disabling startup entries/services using 'msconfig' whilst in safe mode?
If safe mode is working and it hangs quite early on in the boot process it sounds most likely to be a dodgy driver or dll. Have you installed any new hardware/applications lately?

Yes, i meant safe mode

I have already tried msconfig, sorry, forgot to mention that, that didnt help either.

The only things I have installed recently is a wireless router, but this was a few days ago and the comp worked fine until now. so i dont think it was that. I did install a hotfix which may be the cause but i rolled back to a recovery point before I installed it and that didnt help

Hmmm, what did you try changing in msconfig? I'd start off disabling everything out of the "Startup" tab and then disable all non Microsoft services to see if that has an effect.
If you don't have any luck there my next guess would be a dodgy driver so I'd enable the bootlog option under msconfig (in the "boot.ini" tab I think), then boot normally, wait for the hang, reboot in safe mode and check the last line in the bootlog for anything suspicious.

You can try this to do a Repair of Windows. This will keep all data and programs intact yet refresh all the Windows files as if it was a new install.

Boot up off the recovery disc (Windows install disc).
Press ENTER to "Setup windows Now"
Press F8 at the licence screen.
Setup will detect your current Windows install.
Now you can press R to repair your current installation

Let it continue and follow any onscreen instructions.

Now your boot issue should be gone :)

Doesn't a repair re-write the registry? (not tried one myself recently) A lot of the more complex programs (ms office etc) won't work after that.
Also worth remebering that after the repair you need a reinstall of all your Windows updates (including SP2 unless you have it slip-streamed into your install CD)

For some reason mine doesn't have the repair option, it just carys on installing another copy of windows

Is the CD you are using definitely the same version of Windows? (i.e home edition vs. pro ?)

I have done the boot logging, I'm assuming this doesn't log the boot into safe mode? otherwise this means nothing.

I get a lot of driver not loaded. The last successfully loaded driver was mup.sys and the first unsuccessfully loaded driver was ACPI Multiprocessor PC. any ideas? I guess the problem is with this driver so does anyone know how to fix it?

Thanks

Yes, it should on log the last boot but if a bootlog file already exists it should append onto the end of it.
I think mup.sys is one of the last drivers that get loaded so it may be that your problem lies later in the boot process (registry related perhaps). I'll see if I can post a bootlog from my own system (XP SP2) for comparison.
I'd be concerned about the ACPI driver not loading (I'm assuming it's Halmacpi.dll?), are you running a dual/quad core system?

chkdsk /p (did come up with errors) ?
Might be something wrong with your hard drive. Bad sectors? Have you tried a different hard drive?

I have a dual core CPU

I think my next step is to install onto another hard drive, but my only disk has my backups on it and wont be able to fit windows on it. I guess I will have to copy it accross onto the possibly faulty hdd and coppy it back accross if i need to. would formatting the drive fix the bad sectors do you think?

try booting into safe mode, then remove your display driver completely when in safe mode. After doing this, then try a normal boot and see how you get on.

The Windows logon screen is the first time your computer fully uses your graphics card, so this could be the sign of graphics related issues.