Need help: XP won't boot

[XI AlphaMale IX]

XP service pack 2 machine won't boot. System hangs after POST and "Windows" loading screen:

The corners say "Safe Mode" and the top basically just says XP SP2. Mouse is unresponsive as well. Booting normally the same thing occurs, just without the writing (just a cursor in the middle). Any help would be much appreciated. If any additional info is needed I can supply. =)

Thanks in advance.

 

[Legodude522]

Do you know if your PC is clean or not?

Was there anything that happened prior to this issue that may have caused the problem?

Sometimes bad memory or a bad hard drive may cause the problem you have now. I would first try to see if the memory went bad. What you can do is open up your computer and swamp out the memory with known good memory or if there are multiple sticks in there, try one at a time. I would also recommend you perform a memory test. You should definitely get UBCD and test your memory and hard drive.

If this is not a hardware failure and a virus, load a live CD with anti-virus scanner or plug your hard drive (or use a USB HDD enclosure) in a clean computer with anti-virus and scan it from that computer when it's booted. Another possibility is that Windows is corrupt. You would have to try to reinstall Windows over your current installation, attempt a repair, or wipe it on and make a new Windows installation.

 

[XI AlphaMale IX]

Great! And on track with what I was thinking, so that's even better. =) I'm new in the I.T. field, just starting my business. I really appreciate the help! I'm quickly realizing I need more equipment...

The person was playing WoW. Not the first person I've had come in with a problem that started with that game, either!

 

[Legodude522]

Things are so much easier when you have the appropriate equipment.

I will literally lug my PC around with me for any computer job I'm doing. My PC has SATA and IDE, USB ports, large hard drive for backing up people's hard drives so I can reformat and restore data, CD images of various copies of Windows and other OS's, CD images of tools such as UBCD, and anti-virus so I can simply plug in the person's hard drive and do a scan and clean it out and plug it back in the original computer and it's ready to go.

Technically this could all be done with a laptop with SATA/USB and IDE/USB adapters but I haven't found will to purchase the adapters.

 

[XI AlphaMale IX]

Thanks for the tips! =)