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I'm having a strange issue about which I and my tech friends are scratching
our heads.
I'll preface with a little background info. For the last six months or so,
when Windows XP has been starting up, usually it will come up right away, but
sometimes it stays on the black Windows XP splash screen (with the blue bars
running across) for a couple minutes before it starts. Regardless, it always
started, so I ignored it.
A few days ago I went ahead and let Windows Update install SP3. Through the
process, my computer locked up three times and I had to restart each time,
but eventually it successfully installed. When Windows Update asked me to
reboot at the end of the installation, I did, and when the black splash
screen came up this time, XP would not start up. The blue bars move across
for a couple minutes, then pause a minute, then move across again, cycling
indefinitely.
I booted in safe mode successfully, but couldn't find any hardware issues.
I could not think of anything else to do, and, thinking I got a bad SP3
installation, I made backups of everything I needed on my boot drive, and
formatted and reinstalled Windows XP from my installation disk (which has
SP2). XP installed successfully, so I rebooted a few times to make sure it
was working. Then I installed my motherboard drivers so that my onboard
network adapter would be recognized, and then rebooted a few more times to
make sure it was still working. Next, I downloaded the full version of the
SP3 update and installed it successfully without having the earlier lockups.
I rebooted a few more times, all successfully. Finally I activated Windows
XP. I tried to reboot again, and I got the same issue as before - getting
stuck on the black splash screen.
It seemed odd to me that activation would cause Windows to lock, and I was
still thinking it was an SP3 issue, so I did more tests, in slightly
different order:
Reinstalled Windows XP clean (three successful reboots)
Installed SP3 before motherboard drivers (three successful reboots)
Installed motherboard drivers (three successful reboots)
Activated Windows (first reboot fails as before)
Reinstalled Windows XP clean (three successful reboots)
Installed motherboard drivers (three successful reboots)
Activated Windows w/o installing SP3 (first reboot fails as before)
I didn't want to try to do this many more times because I don't want my
Windows key to get locked.
Any information anyone can give would be most appreciated.
our heads.
I'll preface with a little background info. For the last six months or so,
when Windows XP has been starting up, usually it will come up right away, but
sometimes it stays on the black Windows XP splash screen (with the blue bars
running across) for a couple minutes before it starts. Regardless, it always
started, so I ignored it.
A few days ago I went ahead and let Windows Update install SP3. Through the
process, my computer locked up three times and I had to restart each time,
but eventually it successfully installed. When Windows Update asked me to
reboot at the end of the installation, I did, and when the black splash
screen came up this time, XP would not start up. The blue bars move across
for a couple minutes, then pause a minute, then move across again, cycling
indefinitely.
I booted in safe mode successfully, but couldn't find any hardware issues.
I could not think of anything else to do, and, thinking I got a bad SP3
installation, I made backups of everything I needed on my boot drive, and
formatted and reinstalled Windows XP from my installation disk (which has
SP2). XP installed successfully, so I rebooted a few times to make sure it
was working. Then I installed my motherboard drivers so that my onboard
network adapter would be recognized, and then rebooted a few more times to
make sure it was still working. Next, I downloaded the full version of the
SP3 update and installed it successfully without having the earlier lockups.
I rebooted a few more times, all successfully. Finally I activated Windows
XP. I tried to reboot again, and I got the same issue as before - getting
stuck on the black splash screen.
It seemed odd to me that activation would cause Windows to lock, and I was
still thinking it was an SP3 issue, so I did more tests, in slightly
different order:
Reinstalled Windows XP clean (three successful reboots)
Installed SP3 before motherboard drivers (three successful reboots)
Installed motherboard drivers (three successful reboots)
Activated Windows (first reboot fails as before)
Reinstalled Windows XP clean (three successful reboots)
Installed motherboard drivers (three successful reboots)
Activated Windows w/o installing SP3 (first reboot fails as before)
I didn't want to try to do this many more times because I don't want my
Windows key to get locked.
Any information anyone can give would be most appreciated.