Windows XP Boot Up Problem

K

konakula29er

New Member
My son returned home from college a few months back with a PC that will not boot past the Windows XP startup screen. He's been asking me to take a look at it all summer hoping I can fix it and I'm just getting around to doing that before he returns to school in two weeks. I initially thought it wouldn't be a problem to boot up his PC in safe mode. However, that has not worked. I have also tried booting up under 'last known good configuration' and 'safe mode with networking' (being that his PC is now connected through a router to my PC - but I'm not sure that even applies here). Each time the PC gets to the Windows XP startup screen, it just freezes there.
This is the first time I've had to deal with a PC that won't boot past the startup screen. Any ideas what could be happening?

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Greg
 
Sounds like it's time to repair that old installation. When you go to start in safe mode, does it output a log of drivers that it's loading? If so, does it freeze during that?
 
if you have the XP installation cd you can run a repair which may fix the problem without completely reinstalling everything...
 
Follow up

OK, he finally found the Windows XP installation CD. Based on what I've read thus far on this thread, is it better to first try a recovery, or should I go directly to a repair?
One note, I have tried the system recovery already. I was stopped when it asked for an "Administrator password". My son swears he has not ever set up this PC with a password. Is there a generic one already in place, or does that mean there is indeed an Administrator password that somebody set up?

systek said:
if you have the XP installation cd you can run a repair which may fix the problem without completely reinstalling everything...
Click to expand...
 
I have not had a problem with asking for a password when i have done a complete re-install using the xp installation cd.
Also, There are jumpers on some boards that will clear passwords and some can be done in the BIOS. (alot of times you can get to Bios when you press one of these buttons f1, f8, f10 as soon as the computer is turning on, you cant wait for xp to load. But dont change things that you are not familiar with.)
 
It often asks for a password where no password exists. If no password exists then hit the enter key to move past this point.
 
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