I am running Windows XP and it has started hanging up on the start-up screen. I end up having to use system restore to get it to start up properly. This is a new computer. Any ideas?
I use E-Trust anti-virus and firewall. Yes I have Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D installed and try to run at least once a week. I bought it "new new" in June, 2005. The only freeware I have installed is LimeWire, Spybot, and AdAware, but it worked fine after I installed and used them. The computers primary use is surfing the internet. Secondary things like photo printing and word processing are minimal. No peer to peer stuff. It's pretty annoying since I may have to try multiple restore points before it will start up correctly.
Will it start up consistently OK in Safe Mode? If so, then the likelyhood of a driver conflict would be suspect. Safe Mode loads with a minimum of drivers, so if it is starting ok that way, then that points to something that is loading up in "normal" mode.
Hmmmm.....then I would definitely suspect a problem driver. It can be a little tedious, but by trial and error you should be able to track down the problem child. I would suggest running MSCONFIG. If you aren't familiar with it, below is a link to a good tutorial: http://netsquirrel.com/msconfig/ You'll want to, one at a time, disable the items in the Startup section. When you get to the point that your PC boots consistently in Normal Mode, you can pretty well figure that the last item you disabled in Startup was the problem. Then you can determine if it is something that can be removed, or will need futher attention to fix. Let us know what you find. Good luck!
Okay thanks!! I'll definately give that a try. The list of startup programs that links off there is good too. It tells what is what in the starup section of MSCONFIG. I'll keep you posted.
Well I unchecked everything that wasn't necessary and my problem still presents itself. It froze on the startup screen, but started correctly when I cut it off and restarted. Another thing I'm having problems with is some pictures won't load on some web pages. I get the red X. I figure thats some sort of setting, but I've been unable to figure out which one. It happens on Ebay.com and Nascar.com. Any ideas on that issue? I may try calling tech. support for the freeze on startup problem and see what they tell me.
I will do some looking when I get home. I'm not real comfortable editing the registry. Aren't there some programs that detect bad entries. Seems like I had one called RegEdit one time on an old machine.
Boot the machine in safe mode. Run msconfig choose selective startup. Uncheck all items in the startup and close. Reboot. Install ad-aware, update the defintion files. click scan. Choose complete scan. htttp://www.lavasoftusa.com Also go into the IE browser and go to TOOLS, then INTERNET OPTIONS, then PRIVACY. Select the advance button under cookie handling. check the override button, BLOCK THIRD PARTY COOKIES. This will help for future issues. Not all but some. Make sure you get XPSP2 and learn about the new security policies.
As of now it appears this was a software conflict problem. I racked my brain and remembered I had installed a program just before it started causing problems. I uninstalled the software and I'll be darned it has worked right ever since..(knock on wood) For now at least it seems to be starting up normally. This was an officially licensed store bought product. What would cause it to make my computer freeze at startup?
