Hangs on boot but Safe Mode shows no problems

Windows won't load in normal mode, simply hangs up with no error message displayed.
Everything in Setup looks OK, tried bios default F9 with no change.
Everything in SAFE MODE looks perfect. Restored to earlier date with no change.
Booted with OS CD to try and repair bootcfg/rebuild but it defaults to checking system for other OS's for a new install.
Swapped out HD with old Win 98 HD to check if MB could be at fault and it loads as it should.
I'm at my wits end and don't have a clue as to where to go from here.
At this point any advice will be much appriciated.

 

A badly defragmented drive can also cause this, as I discovered on my PC.

 

Malware could possibly cause it. You can run antimalware programs in Safe Mode.

Look in Device Manager for any error messages.

Networking can cause problems at "logon ". If you see icons start to appear in the Notification Tray (let us know) that might not be the case (but could mean a startup program is causing it).

Does your Windows drive have plenty of free space? I work on a minimum of 20%.

If you are very stuck, do a clean boot
How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state
How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP
How to perform a clean boot procedure to determine whether background programs are interfering with a game or a program that you currently use
(If you are not happy with just one set of instructions )

Matt

 

Steve, Whiskeyman, mattman,
Thanks for the advice

My event viewer shows the following:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7026
Date: 10/13/2009
Time: 4:20:15 PM
User: N/A
Computer: USER
Description:
The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
Aavmker4
AFD
aswSP
aswTdi
Fips
intelppm
IPSec
MRxSmb
NetBIOS
NetBT
RasAcd
Rdbss
Tcpip

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


Can anyone advise me as to where to go from here?

 

None of us suggested looking in Event Viewer where it looks like you found that error report. I checked one, Aavmker4, which is Avast, so is that the cause? I will leave it to you to investigate the others, then decide on if one might be the cause. It's probably better to disable startup programs like Steve suggested. You will also find that is the basis of the clean boot I suggested.

Matt

 

Hey guys,
Guess what, I GOT LUCKY.
Booted in SAFE MODE
Tried a search for BOOTCFG and it found 2 examples.
Right clicked on each one where it gave me the option to PIN TO START MENU which I did.
Re-booted in NORMAL MODE and Windows loaded perfectly.
Thought you might like to know for future reference.
Thanks again for all the good advice. I recently upgraded to XP from Win98 so I never realized I could do so much in Safe Mode.