Windows XP Hangs At Startup

Upon my most recent startup my system started running really slow. And by slow I mean from the time the blue "Windows XP: Loading Personal Settings..." screen popped up to the time Windows Explorer actually loaded was about 10-20 minutes.

I've tried running the Recovery Console (running both CHKDSK /R AND /P) but nothing seemed to work.

Most recently I tried doing a recovery installation from my Windows XP disc but this seems to have made things worse. Now it hangs between the blue Windows XP Welcome Screen and Windows Explorer (IE: my desktop loads with no icons or start menu).

I know my HDD may have been going bad before but I could still use it. Is this possibly a result of this? Is there a way to at least load Windows XP so I can make preparations to wipe the drive and do a fresh install?

At this point I can't access anything on that computer.

 

Can you boot into safe mode okay?

This is always the first thing I try with slow boots.

This very possibly software conflicts, start up programs, or malware.

 

Yes, but the same result happens. It hangs at this spot.

I suppose it's possible but nothing about my setup changed yesterday as I've been working all day offline. Then, after restarting it began to hang here.

I'm afraid that possibly the drive has officially gone bad, at which point this has to be a data recovery operation and I'll just junk the drive.

However, I'd like to try a little further before I get there. I will say that anything I run in an attempt to fix this MUST be done before Windows boots because once the "Windows XP: Loading Personal Preferences..." screen loads, I'm locked out at that point (as it just hangs).

Any thoughts? A partition problem possibly?

Thanks for the help!

 

Have you considered issues such as cooling problems? Experience any slowness prior to this happening?

 

Not particularly. I've experience frequent locks ups, but upon hitting the reset button few times it always loads. Nothing like this though where it just hangs.

I've ready an article about possibly trying to run msconfig and disable all the startup programs but everything in Windows is running in slowmo (IE: I click start menu and it's a 2 minute process)...

 

So you can boot to the desktop screen?

Running msconfig and selecting diagnostic mode might make a difference. But if you have already tried safe mode and this is no better, I think it is unlikely.

It sounds more like a corrupted/ruined HD, or a bad RAM stick. Open the panel and if you have more than one stick, take one out and boot up, then try same with the other stick. I would again boot up both times in safe mode only.

Then, if no better, have you got access to another computer that you could slave this HD to?

 

Technically yes, but not really from a functionality standpoint. After about an hour it loads but when you go to click on anything, each movement takes about 10 minutes to be recognized.

Here is what I tried today:

1) I was able to get into msconfig and disable all Services and Start Up items. Restarted but it still hangs.

2) Next I tried pulling each RAM stick out one at a time (4 total) and rebooting each time. Then I tried swapping each stick into the RAM 1 slot and I also moved it to the other channel just to eliminate the possibility of one of these combinations being the problem.

This all yielded the same results. The system still hangs.

Any other thoughts?

 

Actualy, that is my new plan. I purchased a HDD last night and I"m in the process of installing Windows so I can access the data.

Thanks for the help! I'll keep you posted!