Windows wont load, but will in safe mode

[dawnjulie]

Hi,

When I power the computer, only the Windows 98 logo shows but the actual software doesn't load and Windows doesn't fully load either.

I tried in Safe Mode and Windows did fully load with all the software.

Why is this happening? What should I do to make Windows fully operable when it's not in Safe mode?

Thanks for any advice

 

[wolluf]

Run msconfig in safe mode and see what's getting loaded. I'd disable all apart from systray, and see if it will boot normally. If it does, you can experiment (one at a time) to see what causes the trouble.

If that doesn't work, boot to a command prompt (same menu as safe mode) and run scanreg /restore. Pick a date when machine was booting properly to restore from.

If that's no good, you could try step-by-step boot (same menu as safe mode again). See which driver causes it to hang.

 

[mscallisto]

You may want to skip safe mode and try step by step mode.

In step by step you answer yes as each driver or program loads, the last one that dies should be the bad guy.

If you get this far let me know, it may be simply stopping on a virus scan or something easy to fix.

Other thoughts:

Sometimes devices (nic cards, sound cards) etc. cause a hang
and may need to be removed temporarily.

Sometimes mapped drives cause hangs if you are not connected to your network.

Sometimes BIOS gets upset and needs to restored to default settings.

 

[TwoEdge]

I agree with Callisto, I usually get this problem when doing a reinstall of my network adapter...The only way to make it work is to install it fresh from the ground up(windows, then mobo, then network,...).

It'd be easier to asses your problems if you supplied us with your system configuration. I usually get this problem from the 3com network drivers.

 

[dawnjulie]

Thanks everyone

It was McAfee that was causing the problem & it was corrected via autoexec

Again ... thank you