XP Pro Failing To Boot

[Prognewb]

I have a year or so old Dell GX620 machine that will not boot into Windows XP Pro (came installed). It gets to the logo screen and progress indicator bar, but the indicator stops 3/4ths of the way at each attempt, and the pc locks.

It always locks just as Windows starts to boot, no matter the method: safe mode, safe mode with networking, last known good configuration, even when booting to the OS disc to either run the repair feature or reinstall the OS, it will load the drivers and copy files, but lock upon attempting to start Windows.
I've been able to boot the pc into the Utilities partition to run diagnostics on it, but every test has passed. It's just when booting into Windows when it locks up.
One thing I have looked closely for is a quick flash of a blue screen, but have not seen it.

I've Googled the issue, looked through MS knowledge base, looked around here, but haven't found anything that helps me yet.

If anyone knows of anything I might have missed or has any help to offer I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[dxter]

This happened to me once so I went into the Bios, loaded in all default and it seemed to cure it. Maybe u should try that! Good luck

 

[linney]

Did the diagnostics you ran include these type of applications?

To check your RAM.

http://www.memtest86.com/

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

http://www.simmtester.com/PAGE/products/doc/docinfo.asp

To check your Hard Drive.

The drive manufacturer will have free diagnostic software to check your drive for problems.

You can also try to load the Recovery Console and run ChkDsk /r to check for problems.

HOW TO: Install and Use the Recovery Console for Windows XP (Q307654)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q307/6/54.asp

Another alternate way to get the Recovery Console loaded.

How to obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994/

An easy to follow recovery console description when unable to start computer due to corrupt registry.

http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm

This is a layman's version of Q307545 in simple language.

 

[lhuegele]

Sounds like hardware based problem to me. I would contact the PC maker and have them help you trouble-shoot the problem. If it's only 1 year old there's a chance that your warranty is still valid.

Sounds like your hard drive may be going out or about to die.

Also, try running diagnostics multiple times. It may finally catch something.

Good luck,

 

[Prydonian]

Have you, by chance, changed the video card recently or updated its driver? We had thsi exact same problem a year or so ago at work and it turned out that DELL uses proprietary MBs and not all video cards and/or driver releases will work in them.

Mike

Life is too short to drink warm beer....

 

[Prognewb]

I ran a bunch of tests but they always came up with nothing... no new hardware installed or sofware either. I finally took the easy way out and recovered the data with a third party program and started from scratch with a new installation. Thanks for the suggestions!