[electricmammal]

Hi eveyone hope you can help

I recently started my computer in safe mode, the next time I started it I got the normal windows background but otherwise it seemed like the computer had stuck in safe mode eg only a very small number of services started, no internet connectivity AVG ran as if in safe mode etc. I had no luck through choosing normal start up when booting or via msconfig so eventually I resorted to last known good configuration. Now when I start my computer up it loads normally until I get to my desktop background at this point it freezes for about 3 minutes no start menu no bar at the bottom no desktop icons or ability to call taskmanager no internet access. After 3 minutes about 12 core services start which I know as I can use task manager then a couple of minutes later the rest of my program applications are loaded and the missing icons and bars appear. Still no internet access though despite last known good config meaning that some things that were disabled now have automatic start up description in the services window eg Remote Proceedure Call. I have no reason to think I have a virus. Does anyone have any ideas whats going on and what I can do about it ??? Could windows be trying to find something which is no longer on the computer causing a delay at start up or is it perhaps still disabling some aspects of my normal start up? How can I find out what is going on to cause this freeze and lack of connectivity?? I do not have any relevant system restore points. Any help would be very appreciated.
Thank you

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What was the reason for starting in safe mode when this happened?
Did you make any changes in the system in safe mode?
What makes you believe you would not have a virus?
Is your system restore been disabled and if yes was that done for a reason?


We will need some more information
If this is a name brand system:
Make
Model
Operating System
Age of the computer
Memory Total
Hard Drive Size, How much free space



If this is custom then We will need the following:
The CPU brand and model
The Motherboard brand and model
Ram amount and speed
Cd\Dvd rom interface IDE/ SATA
Hard Drive size and free space
Any cards in PCI slots
Any software installed\updated and driver updates done just before problem started

All this will help in determining a course of action to best correct the problem you are experiencing.

[rshaffer61]

What was the reason for starting in safe mode when this happened?
Did you make any changes in the system in safe mode?
What makes you believe you would not have a virus?
Is your system restore been disabled and if yes was that done for a reason?


We will need some more information
If this is a name brand system:
Make
Model
Operating System
Age of the computer
Memory Total
Hard Drive Size, How much free space



If this is custom then We will need the following:
The CPU brand and model
The Motherboard brand and model
Ram amount and speed
Cd\Dvd rom interface IDE/ SATA
Hard Drive size and free space
Any cards in PCI slots
Any software installed\updated and driver updates done just before problem started

All this will help in determining a course of action to best correct the problem you are experiencing.

[electricmammal]

Hi
thank you for your response.
Im afraid I am not the most techi person in the world so I may need some guidance if you need more info. Here is as much information as I can remember. System properties says OS is Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 3. It is a Sony Vaio laptop PCG-GRT Series. Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.80GHZ 2.81 GHZ 1.00 GB RAM. Hard disk total space 27.98 GB of which 3.84 is free. As far as I know it is a good few years old, someone was kind enough to give it to me about 6 months ago I do not know its exact age. The only thing I am aware of downloading recently was Abode flash CS4.
I put the computer into safe mode to run some virus scans as I was getting a pop-up message that AVG 7.5 was no longer being supported and to upgrade to 8.5 and I am paranoid about spoof security warnings. I had already run the scans in a normal windows environment and got nothing but Ironically I thought it would be better to be safe than sorry so I ran them in safe mode as well. I ran an AVG scan, a malwarbytes scan a sypbot search and an on demand avira scan all blank. When I started my computer again it loaded fine normal speed but msconfig was showing selective startup = many program files werent loading possibly because I hadnt exited safe mode properly previously I dont know. Anyway I tried various things like selecting normal start up and enabling all services as I had no internet connection and the firewall area in the security centre wouldnt load. Eventually in desperation I tried last known good configuration when booting my computer first time I did this it froze for ever and when I could eventually get a task manager a zone alarm related process seemed to be stuck in a loop. Upon ending this I get what I have now a 3 minute freeze when I hit the desktop background and no internet connection. I can revert to the selective start up none freeze environment but this = no non windows programs and many windows service stopped still no connection. I dont know anything about how last good config works like whether it draws on a file which has saved previous settings each time it starts which could freeze if it is corrupted or what have you. All the virus scans came back blank and there are no pop up messages etc so I think it is more likely that my fumbling use of safe or msconfig has altered start up in some way. Eg might I have accidentally caused registry key entries to be altered or deleted or boot sequence to be altered ? how do I check ??

Thank you

[PILL5B3RRY]

Hey try this out. Go to Start > Run > msconfig

Over here in the General tab, make sure it is selected as Normal Startup. If it is on Diagnostic or Selective Startup, click on the Normal Startup Button. Then click Apply and then Ok. After, restart your system. See if this helps

[electricmammal]

Hi thank you for your response.
No luck Im afraid I still get the freeze problem and no connectivity.
Any suggestions are very welcome

Thankyou

[rshaffer61]

Looking at your response back to me in post 3 I noticed this
"System properties says OS is Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 3. It is a Sony Vaio laptop PCG-GRT Series. Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.80GHZ 2.81 GHZ 1.00 GB RAM. Hard disk total space 27.98 GB of which 3.84 is free."
Highlighted is not good. You are running dangerously low on hd space.
Paging file is going to take a big chunk of this. Now that being said lets try some things.


Lets see what you have in your startup
Please click on
Start>>Run>>Type in msconfig>>>press enter
Now click on Startups
Then uncheck everything and restart.
If system boots correctly and is running smoothly and faster then we have a startup problem
Try going back into msconfig and check one item and reboot
Keep doing that till you have found the problem or all are finally checked.
Post back with the results


Lets see what you have in your startup services area
Please click on
Start>>Run>>Type in msconfig>>>press enter
Now click on Services
Click on Hide All Microsoft Services
Then uncheck everything and restart.
If system boots correctly and is running smoothly and faster then we have a service problem
Try going back into msconfig and check one item and reboot
Keep doing that till you have found the problem or all are finally checked.
Post back with the results

[electricmammal]

Hi thank you for the help

unchecking the start ups didnt make a difference to the freeze or non connectivity. When I tried to uncheck the services and ok it I got a message that I would need to log on as administrator to make the changes. The account I normally use has admin privilages. Starting the computer in safe mode gave me the chance to log on using the administrator, administartor account and this allowed me to uncheck services. I didnt get the freeze with this but then I wouldnt as going into safe mode and then restarting normally seems to overhaul the freeze caused by last good settings but it also disables a number of things eg no internet connection and the firewall area in the security centre doesnt load as before as if safe modes ability to influence other programs is sticking somehow. I guess the fact that going into safe mode and then starting up normally seems to fix the freeze suggests that when I use last known good settings it is causing windows to try and find some problem program or service that I used in the past but which I dont now. I will compare service and startups after last known good setting with those after I go into safe mode and the normal boot to see if I can find the mischievious program. I dont know if this will solve the lack of internet connectivity. If there is a better course of action comments and suggestions are much appreciated.

Thank you

[rshaffer61]

Continueing on the remarks I made about hd free space. I would suggest that you go into add\remove programs and remove some of the programs you never use or that are just laying around that you may have forgotten about.
This will help the slow ing problem as there isn't much room for windows to think right now.
To get to add\remove programs go to
Start>Control Panel>Add\Remove programs
Highlight the program you want to remove and then click remove. Be careful as not to remove anything the laptop needs to function.