[cmoney1022]

Hello-

I had previously been talking with someone on this site a month ago or so, regarding removal of Spyware, Malware, Viruses, Pop-Ups, Adware, and registry fixes. In the midst of getting through those problems, it all came to a halt when the computer would not boot completely.
I am sending this via my work computer, since I cannot get into mine at home. 90% of my attempts lead to the screen asking if I'd like to Boot Windows Normally, Boot Last Known Good Configuration, or the 3 Safe Mode Options. In most cases, no matter what I choose, the computer attempts to boot, but then freezes on a black screen, sometimes with the mouse cursor in the middle of the screen. I have also seen it freeze on the Black Windows XP page with the little bar moving, which freezes, as well as at the Blue 'Welcome' screen, right before windows opens. Very Rarely does it ever boot completely into Windows. And as much as I have noticed the only time it will actually do that is when I select to "Boot Normally." Once in windows, the computer will freeze up within a few minutes, leaving no time to run virus scans or anything. Once it freezes at that point it takes numerous attampts to get it to boot Windows fully again.
On a side note, I have tried to boot from the Windows XP disc, and try to just Format and -Re-install, but that process halts as well at the blue screen that says "Windows is starting..." after all of the necessary files/components load.
I am pretty much at a loss. Any help or advice you might have would be great. I'm not sure where to start, let alone which direction to go in. Thanks!

[Advertisements]

Can you remove all the leads from the tower, with the exception of monitor, keyboard and mouse then start the PC but keep tapping the delete key until it enters set up

Look for BIOS defaults, load those, press F10, type Y, press enter

Is there data you need on the drive

[Retired Tech]

Can you remove all the leads from the tower, with the exception of monitor, keyboard and mouse then start the PC but keep tapping the delete key until it enters set up

Look for BIOS defaults, load those, press F10, type Y, press enter

Is there data you need on the drive

[cmoney1022]

I will try that when I get home in the next hour or so. I did read some of the other posts and thought of that.

So go into the Bios, load the BIOS defaults, save then exit, right?

Anything else I can try to troubleshoot with that you can think of?

Thanks again!

[Retired Tech]

See how that goes, once you get to the desktop we can look at it further

[cmoney1022]

Ok, thanks! I will try to get back with you tonight, but I may have to wait until tomorrow. I appreciate your help!

[Retired Tech]

No problem

It's 1 am here anyway

[cmoney1022]

Hey Keith-

I turned the computer on, went into setup, loaded the BIOS defaults and booted the computer. I am in Windows now, on the ompcuter sending you this message. Windows has been up for about 3-5 mins now, without freezing. What would you reccommend next?
To answer your question from earlier, I did save a lot of things to CD that I wanted to keep. There is still stuff that I would keep if I could, but if I had to reformat the computer I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
I saw your last message saying what time it was there, so I understand if you don't respond until later. I do look forward to any further advice you have. I have to say it's amazing to have this thing boot up that easy, on the first try like that. Congrats, thanks again!

[Retired Tech]

Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, right click any file then click delete, confirm delete

Click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, then from system tools, run disc defragmenter.

Click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter, you need the XP CD

Windows File Protection will show a blue onscreen progress bar, when the bar goes, reboot

Download and install Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run Tune Up Disc Clean Up

Run Tune Up Registry Clean Up

Click Optimize and Improve to run Reg Defrag, which will take a few minutes and need a reboot. You should disable the antivirus programme to run this

Check the anti virus is running after the reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

[cmoney1022]

Keith-

FYI- about a minute within sending you the last message the computer froze up and I had to turn off, then try to boot again with no luck. I'm on another computer in the house right now. I am going to print out your last advice and see if I can get it going if I can get it to boot again.

With that said, is there anything else I can do to ensure it to boot at all?

Thanks!

[Retired Tech]

See if you can download tune up with another PC and install it on yours

[cmoney1022]

Alright, I'll try that and see if I can do that.

[cmoney1022]

Hey Keith-

Just wanted to update you on my progress and see if you had any further insite....

I downloaded that TuneUp 2006 software you told me about, and was able to install int on my PC. After 2 attempts I got the TuneUp Disc Cleanup to work. I tried the TuneUp Registry Fix 3 times and didn't get it to complete without the Pc freezing. I did get the prefetch to work however. I attempted to run System Tools, Disc Cleanup, which lead tot he PC freezing as well as Defrag with the same result. So I did make some progress overall, I guess.
the computer no longer asks me which configuration of Windows I'd like to run (Last know good config, run normally, or the 3 'Safe Mode' options, an dI'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. I still run into problems getting a full boot sometimes, and for the most part if it does boot all the way it freezess within a few minutes of completion.
I did however get the computer to boot normally late last night and it stay on for a couple of hours, but I limited what I did on it, ie. opening Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, etc, but it eventually did freeze again and was back at square one.
With all that said, what would be your suggestion for my next step. Again, any help would be greatly appreciated.
If it came down to the fact that I just need to format, I can do that as well, I just need to know how to begin doing so. I've had the Windows XP disc in the Cd drive at boot up and it doesn't ask to boot from Cd, and I'm not remembering off the top of my head how to boot in MS-DOS to run Format that way.
Quick question....The only peripherals I have plugged into the computer are the Monitor, keyboard and mouse, however, the keyboard and mouse are both USB, the keyboard has the PS/2 adapter on it. do you think the USB devices are hindering me and booting? Just curious....Thanks again!

[Retired Tech]

I mentioned peripherals as some powered USB hubs can cause it to hang during boot

Can you click start then run, type msconfig then press enter, click start up, click disable all, click apply, reboot

When windows gets to the desktop, tick do not start the configuration utility

See how tune up does, if OK, run the others

Click start then run, type msconfig then press enter, put the dot in normal start up, click apply, reboot

[cmoney1022]

Ok, will try that when I get home....Should be in about 2 and half hours tops. I know it's late where you're at, so hopefully I can gain some more ground and get back to you before tomorrow. Thanks Keith!

[cmoney1022]

Hey-

I did the msconfig change and was able to get TuneUp to run after a few attempts. Then after a few attempts later the computer booted fine and allowed me to run Registry CleanUp on TuneUp, as well as the System Optimizer, Internet Connection Optimizer and System Advisor. The only draw back to it, being because I was afraid the computer wouldn't reboot, i did all of those things before rebooting, then rebooted after they had finished.
It finally froze, and i went to reboot the PC and now I'm thinking I went from Good to Horrible. It now turns on, beeps, loads the drives, and then the last thing I see is "Verifying DMI Pool Data", the computer goes to a black screen and stops. So I don't even see the Windows XP loadnign page or anything, just the black screen.
I tried to run it in Safe Mode and watching it load files, the last one it loads is C:\windows\config\system32, or somethign to that effect and then freezes and sits there. I tried again this morning with the same result and cannot get anything close to a full boot now.
Also, I got fed up and trie dto just boot from the XP cd and Format and reinstall windows, and it get to the part where it asks to select from the three options...."ENTER to install Windows XP, ® to Repair Windows, or F3 to Quit Setup" and it freezes there before I can make a selection.....
Any ideas of what I can do next. I felt like it was going good until I finished all of the TuneUp Cleanups and Optimizes....
Thanks again Keith!