Resolved XP Home SP3 freezes on boot

Hi, I just had much the same problem on my Desktop with XP Pro.It tried to start and ran to the XP logo and green bars then could not even get to open in " Safe mode or last known good configeration, so got it checked out and the hard drive was crook , they cloned my complete "C" drive onto a new HDD,
Never lost any data, very happy,
Cheers Des.

 

wildfire: Yes; sorry I didn't explain that well. The repair install appeared to succeed, no warning messages, no flags raised. Except that, when I rebooted, I was back to square 1. (Moreover, but the least of my problems: now I'm back to barebones SP3 with no updates.)

Hi, Des: Yes, I was wondering if I need to have the HDD checked for physical integrity, too. Except that this feels like a software problem: it does exactly the same error at exactly the same point every time, before and after repair install, and will execute all of the DOS commands (see 1. below) with no problems - or at least as many of them as I've tried up to now.

Further thoughts:
1. With the original (or slipstreamed) CD and using the R option, at one point you get a DOS prompt and a screen and a half of DOS commands. Can I use any of these to check the integrity of the HDD before dismantling everything and taking it to the hospital?

2. I've got 2 HDDs, 2 partitions each. I could sacrifice (or move) whatever I've got on one of the partitions of the second drive and install a new copy of Windows there. Then at least I would be able to access all the stuff on the main drive (which, however, is bigger, younger and faster).

3. I've got on board a tiny start-up app for PCs with multiple accounts, which goes straight to the default account on boot up, but which can bring up the normal logon screen with all accounts offered for choosing, if you hold the caps key during bootup. I can't remember what it's called, but it occurs to me that the box hangs just when that app should be kicking in and checking whether I'm holding the caps key down, so maybe it's the culprit. Anybody remember the name of it, so I can delete or otherwise disable it? Holding caps down or not does not have any effect on the problem now, but might have caused it in the past.

 

Hi Geoffrey, Can you get into BIOS? Can you check that all settings in BIOS including clock are correct? Just a small idea to carry out before major surgery. Neil.

 

Thanks Neil - yes, BIOS no problem. One of the first things I checked out! Had to go there anyway to set boot order to (1) CD-ROM, (2) HDD, and so on.

Still no progress...

 

OK - resolved!

Thanks very much everybody for your time and patience and helpful input. I finally bit the bullet and reinstalled from the slipstreamed CD, and now have a working Windows, albeit with some stuff to sort out. Have to re-activate Windows, install probably something like a couple of hundred updates, etc., but it's a small price to pay.

I was amazed and delighted to find the new installation hadn't wiped any of the 4 accounts (1 admin, 3 normal) and their settings.

I've seen there's a small problem with re-activating, but I won't go into that in this thread. I'll do a search through previous threads and can probably solve it like that.

The mystery remains of how this bug happened, what it was and why, but at least it no longer appears to be a dying HDD.

Thanks again to all.