PC No Longer Boots Normally (XP Pro)

Hi,

I first made a post to the software, then spyware forums. Now I'm trying the hardware forum. Not sure what's the cause.

I'm looking at a system that is running a P4 processor, 256 RAM, Award Bios 6.0, Seagate 160 GB HD, running XP Pro.

System boots in safe mode, not in normal mode. I ran memtest86+ for several passes with no reported errors. When I rebooted, the system booted in normal mode with no BSOD. I cleaned the system of all trojans, viruses, spyware, etc. Updated the OS with security fixes. Rebooted the system several times. And all appeared OK.

After the system was down overnight, rebooted the system and the BSOD returned. The error is 0x00007E. I tried running memtest86+ again to see if that would again circumvent the problem. It didn't this time. I saved a change to the CMOS (primary slave from auto to none), and the system booted normally. When I restarted the system, the same BSOD occurred.

Does anyone have any idea what could cause this? What is it about memtest or CMOS change that would affect how XP loads at boot time? I am also unable to produce a memory dump. The system doesn't generate one on the error even though I've specified a small dump, dump location, and no restart at error.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

had you just installed any new hardware/software prior to this problem?
just moved the computer maybe?

I'd suggest unplugging the computer from the wall, opening it up, and taking out the video card, RAM, and any other PCI cards, and then placing them back in.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321637&sd=RMVP
Creative Labs SoundBlaster 16 Joystick with a game port and the Ctljystk.sys version 5.1.2501.0 joystick driver that is included with Microsoft Windows XP is being used by the device.

 

If it starts up in safe mode ok then it could possibly be something (a program or even viruses/spyware) that is starting up in normal mode that is causing the crashes.

I'd probably run msconfig>startup during safe mode and uncheck startup programs (trial/error).
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edit: oops, nm. Seems that kadavill already found a likely cause.