WINXP and Applications OK only in SAFE MODE

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Ritter197

I have something very strange.

In Safe Mode I can get to windows xp, sp#2 and all applications. BUT - when
I get out of it and start up to normal windows XP The computer shows that
windows xp is starting up, but I never get to the desktop. The screen just
stays dark.

The disk#1 has the OS, disk #2 has the applications. In safe mode all works
fine, but only in safe mode.
 
Ritter197 said:
I have something very strange.

In Safe Mode I can get to windows xp, sp#2 and all applications. BUT -
when I get out of it and start up to normal windows XP The computer
shows that windows xp is starting up, but I never get to the desktop.
The screen just stays dark.

The disk#1 has the OS, disk #2 has the applications. In safe mode all
works fine, but only in safe mode.
Click to expand...

This means that either something is starting in regular mode that is
causing the problem or that your video card is having failure or that
your monitor can't handle the video resolution you set.

The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between the time
things worked and the time they didn't?

To troubleshoot startup items, do clean-boot troubleshooting:
Clean boot in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353
Clean-boot advanced troubleshooting in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434
and How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

To test the video card, in Safe Mode set your video resolution for
something you are sure most monitors can handle such as 1024 x 768.
Then try to go into regular mode. If you still have no luck, then
attach the computer to a different monitor. If you still have no luck,
uninstall the video card while in Safe Mode and swap it out for a
known-working card. If all is well, then discard the original card.

Malke
 
Thanks for the response.

It is a computer that ran fine until a few days ago. (Just bought a new HP
4200+ computer) the present computer with which I have the problem is a
2800+ computer.

I have added no new hardware or software.
The NVDIA card is fairly new and worked all the time before (and does work
in Safe mode)

I have gone to the suggested MS link and did twice all the things they
suggested for a clean boot.

It does not get me in normal mode to the windowsxp desktop, it does get me
the desktop in Safe mode.
 
I also set the resolution the the lowest 800X ? and 16 bit and it still does
not get the desktop in normal bootup.

Again, in Safe mode all isw OK.

I do not have another monitor or video card to try.
 
Ritter197 said:
I also set the resolution the the lowest 800X ? and 16 bit and it still does not get the desktop
in normal bootup.
Click to expand...
Again, in Safe mode all isw OK.
Click to expand...

The main difference between safe mode and normal mode is that the
drivers for more than the bare minimum of hardware arent loaded.

If the normal mode stalls forever, its usually because a
particular driver cant initialise the hardware its the driver for.

Try a logged boot and see how far the normal boot gets,
what it stalls at. The should tell you which driver is failing to
initialise its hardware, and so which hardware is the problem.
 
Ritter197 said:
I have something very strange.

In Safe Mode I can get to windows xp, sp#2 and all applications. BUT - when
I get out of it and start up to normal windows XP The computer shows that
windows xp is starting up, but I never get to the desktop. The screen just
stays dark.
Click to expand...

Hit F8 before Windows loads, and use the "log" option. Leave the room for
awhile, make a sandwich, whatever. Come back, and if it is still bonked,
boot up in safemode and look at the log (it'll be in C://; IIRC it's called
like bootlog or something obvious like that).

The clue will be the last thing listed on that log.

Jon
 
Malke wrote:
The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between the time
things worked and the time they didn't?
<snip>
Click to expand...

ah, but in most cases, a reasonably intelligent techie wouldn't even
consider it a problem to troubleshoot if he knew already knew what was
changed, he knows the cause - usually.. Once the cause is ascertained,
the troubleshooting is done really, it's just what to swap , what to
reinstall - or what to tweak that will blatantly solve it.

troubleshooting does involve its own swappign reinstalling and
tweaking, but that is not the same as that which is done if you know
the cause. I don't think it's really troubleshooting anymore.

Ascertaining the cause by asking what was changed, is really
troubleshooting the user!!!! Not the computer!!!

It's a polite way of saying "alright, what did you do? come on? what
did you do this time? that you're not telling me. We have ways to
make you talk."
" Money talks, you want to do this the quick way or the hard way?"

Do more telephone techies get the sack for incompetence or impatience?
 
Ritter197 said:
Thanks for the response.

It is a computer that ran fine until a few days ago. (Just bought a
new HP 4200+ computer) the present computer with which I have the
problem is a 2800+ computer.

I have added no new hardware or software.
The NVDIA card is fairly new and worked all the time before (and
does work in Safe mode)

I have gone to the suggested MS link and did twice all the things
they suggested for a clean boot.

It does not get me in normal mode to the windowsxp desktop, it does
get me the desktop in Safe mode.
Click to expand...

Smells to me like a memory problem. When you load things in
different modes the code lands up in different memory locations.
If you have ECC memory (you should) this isn't the cause.

Please don't top-post. I fixed this. See the links below.

--
Some informative links:
http://www.geocities.com/nnqweb/

http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html
http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html
 
Bootlog I could not find, but I found in XP ntbtlog.txt.
The last driver it loaded was:
agp440.sys.

Then there are many, many drivers it did not load, the very first one was:
ACPI Multiprocessor PC

So what can I do next now?

Thanks for help in advance.
 
Thank you all who tried to help. I tried all your suggestions but none
worked, unfortunately.

I just had a thought --- re-install the software for the NVIDIA graphic
package.

That worked and all is fine again. WHY it needed that is of course forever a
mystery.

Now I want to transfer many of the software on the old computer to the new
HP one and re-install it.

What is the best way? PCLinq ? Or what do you recommend?
 
Ritter197 said:
Thank you all who tried to help. I tried all your suggestions but
none worked, unfortunately.

I just had a thought --- re-install the software for the NVIDIA
graphic package.

That worked and all is fine again. WHY it needed that is of course
forever a mystery.
Click to expand...

Please don't top-post. See the links below.

If you don't have ECC memory, maybe you did a disk compaction to
cause the failure. A stray cosmic ray could easily foul the memory
buffer between reading and writing, leaving a fouled driver in
place. Compare the 50 or so dollar additional cost for ECC memory
against the time and effort you put into this. NEVER buy a machine
without ECC.

--
Some informative links:
http://www.geocities.com/nnqweb/

http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html
http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html
 
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