XP Pro startup problem

Hello to all - I am new here so forgive me if I'm not doing things correctly. I am having difficulty with my sons PC. Specifically, it will boot up with the initial DOS screen, go to the Windows XP Pro load, but where the GUI should load I get a black screen with a cursor arrow, then, what looks like the login box flashes briefly, the screen goes black and finally the 'puter shuts off and restarts. I've tried starting in Safe mode - same thing. I tried the Debugging mode and the black screen with the cursor locked up.

He told me that he loaded the newest version of AIM, didn't like it as well as the older version, so he THEN reloaded the old version without uninstalling the newer version. He then wonders why that would be a big deal! It may be a ruse to try to get out of 2 research papers this weekend. My brother-in-law (wirehead) thinks it is a loading problem. I know AIM likes to load in on the front end.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have some skill in getting around a computer and I am not afraid of them.

thanks in advance

scott

 

Instead of choosing Safe Mode, select Last Known Good Configuration and see if that works.

Steve

 

Try running the repair option from the install disk of windows XP.

 

Thanks for the reply - I've been gone for a few days - I forgot to mention I tried that also. I ended up nukin' it because we had just re-loaded a new OS a month ago due to a computer grounding he didn't have much else loaded.