Windows boot up problem

Posting this here because I believe this to be a problem with Windows. Running Windows XP Professional and having a problem when I start the computer. I get to the Windows loading screen, the screen flickers and then goes black except for the cursor. Now I dont know how this happened because it was fine one night and then the next day started doing this.

So am I correct in assuming that this is a Windows problem or is it my hard drive or something and how might I go about correcting this.

Thanks in advance.

 

Could be something wrong with your video card driver.

If it only happened recently boot up with the XP cd inserted & follow the screen to 'last know good configuration'. See if that gets you back into windows.

You could also try entering safe mode before doing that & see what it looks like.

 

Same problem.

I run a Dell PowerEdge 500SC at work as a small office file and print server, running XP Pro. I use a 2-port KVM to control both it and my own desktop PC. This morning, network print jobs weren't running thru the 500SC, so I switched over and found a black screen with a movable mouse cursor, and nothing else. Caps-Lock and Num-Lock lights toggled on and off, so it wasn't a hard lockup. Had to hard reboot, as Task Manager would not come up. It booted to the XP desktop fine and all appeared well. I performed an update which required a reboot, and found myself back to the black screen and mouse cursor, where I have been ever since. Now, whenever I boot, I get the "did not start normally" screen, I choose "last known working config" or even safe mode, WinXP loads, the splash screen with the progress bar comes up, the screen goes blank, as it normally would just before bringing up the desktop, with the exception of the flash of a green static-ey bar of color across the screen, and then the same thing-- mouse cursor and nothing else. Any ideas?

I did remove the KVM, just to eliminate it as a possibility. I know it's more than a video issue, as the machine is not seen by the network, either.

 

This worked:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;307545

Here's a more user friendly version:

http://www.digitalwebcast.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=8658

 

Awesome links, TheDoug. Everybody here should read & save/print the step-by-step instructions found in the more 'user friendly' version here http://www.digitalwebcast.com/artic...cle.jsp?id=8658 because it can definitely save your ass!

 

I do find I still have other issues in need of resolution on this same machine-- like no taskbar currently-- but am in the process of working them out. More than just the five files in the fix seems to have been affected. But at least I can boot into Windows now, have network connectivity, and all of my apps seem to be working.

 

Just to follow up: I now am back apparently at 100%, save for a reapplication of SP2.

In order to resolve the missing taskbar and other services issues, I performed a Repair Install from a slipstreamed XPSP1 CD. In doing so I realized that a previous attempt-- which I had tried before performing the procedure in my solution post-- did not complete successfully. Apparently, the corrupted config files did not allow it to reboot properly to finish the install.

I now believe that, had I done only the procedure in the first place, I would have saved two further days of grief.