xp bootup prob again!

[cm_uk]

i have posted an older message about this problem and i was wondering if anyone has it?it boots fine and gets to the loading screen then when it is done it just stays blank forever.i have left it like 3 mins before and nothing!it doesnt always do it but it is annoying!i tried setting the VGA thing in the bios and i renistalled my 9600xt and then just now as i booted up it happeded again!i am running XP pro,so if anyone has this problem or nows how to fix it or has a site etc...
cheers

[BlueBot]

load in safe mode and see what driver is taking ages to load etc

Steve

[Stewart]

When I had a spyware infestation, some of it would do that. I had to Ctrl-Alt-Del and kill a few .exe files, before my desktop would load.

Might be worth running Ad-Aware and Spy Bot - Search and Destroy to see what they find.

[BlueBot]

perhaps.. Not much else I can suggest, try a re-install? When something don't work take my way out and reinstall...

Steve

[DaveDeFeet]

Hi

Have you tried a system restore?

XP has a log file called BOOTLOG.PRV in the root of C: (PRV means the previous attempt to start your PC) open this with notepad, after you got the problem but have just sucessfully started up XP.

It gives lots of info on the (previous) startup process and "may" point you towards the driver or program that's causing the issue, it may help you, it may not!

The problem you describe can be caused by so many things, but usually it's software; such as DLL or VXD files, or bad calls to/from the registry.

Cheers and good luck

[Anders]

Have you tried waiting longer than three minutes?

This is a long shot, but I had a problem that caused Windows XP to hang around for ages on a black screen in a similar way. I hope we are talking about the same portion of the Windows boot.

After all the loading, but just before the desktop appears, Windows XP attempts to read the CDs in the CD drives. My problem was caused by a dodgy IDE cable. When the dodgy IDE cable connected either of my CD drives it meant the drive was detected fine, but it could not be read from properly. Anyway, Windows XP would refuse to continue past this black screen for ages when there was a CD in the drive.

[BlueBot]

Anders: I had a very similar problem to you. Somehow an IDE 33 cable managed to wangle it's way into my case and my RAID drivers didn't like it. Just caused my machine to blank screen forever on booting into XP. Took me hours of troubleshooting to work it out!

Steve

[cm_uk]

i have just re-formatted and re-installed and just after i put the mobo and graphics card drivers on the problem was back again. i have checked it for spyware b4 and none was found,i also have a firewall and anti-virus installed.
i will try your ideas tonite.
cheers

[BlueBot]

make suer you have the very latest drivers for you graphics card. If you have then try a few graphics cards forums to see if anyone else is or has had similar problems to you. Maybe a bad driver release or perhaps some conflict error

Steve

[cm_uk]

i ahve updated the drivers and re-installed but..NOTHING! i will try the boot record thing and then see what the problem is.Is it possible that xp could not like my monitor?it is an old packard bell one about 6 years old...only supports maximum resolution of 800x600. cause when i ran it in safe mode it did all the screen flashes from blue to light blue to black etc...has anyone else had this problem.Also i will try and turn it on without discs in the cd-r drive.cheers guys.

[Anders]

Now that BlueBot mentions it, the cable works fine at ATA33. Thing is, the cable is supposed to be able to handle ATA100. So the drives detect a cable that should allow data transfer rates above ATA33. I guess some of the shielding must have got broken somehow.

cm_uk, you said that the problem occurred after you installed the motherboard and graphics card drivers. So if you do not install these drivers does the problem not occur? If so, then the blame would appear to lie with one of these two drivers, or the combination of both. Which a7n8x-e deluxe and 9600xt drivers are you using BTW? I had a look on the very frustrating Asus UK site, but for your motherboard could only see Audio, IDE, LAN and Graphics drivers, but I am probably being blind. In their download section, "Audio Card" is a subsection of "Graphics Card"!

[cm_uk]

I am using ati catalylis 4.1 i think at da mo,but the problem still occurs with the ati 9600xt drivers it comes with.i also updated my motherboard drivers but no luck....so does this help at all...

[BEANFro Elite]

hey cm uk is that a barton you got there