PC freezes after Win XP load screen, works after several restarts

Hi Techspot.

I've been having a problem with my pc recently which seems to be getting worse.

A while ago I installed a new CPU cooler, and after doing so (I forget if it was immediately after, but at most a few days later) the pc started freezing after the win xp load screen. Up until recently just one click of the restart button was enough for it to load all the way into windows, where it works fine by the way. But in the past few weeks I now need anywhere from 2 to 6 restarts to get it to boot all the way into windows.

I've run memtest with no erros, everything else seems to check out fine. A while back I was looking into this and came across some suggestions for clearing CMOS, which I tried, but with no results, so I kind of let it be. But now it's becoming rather irritating that it won't boot when I want it to hehe.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

This may be caused by a bad or corrupted hard drive

Hmm, I ran a check on my hard drives a while back and it was all ok, but I'll run another one. Any recommendations for a particular one?

You should get the hard drive diagnostic software from the manufactures support website. If you tell us the make of the suspect hard drive we can help you find the proper software. In the meantime, you can use the Windows "check for errors" by going to My Computer" and right-clicking on the C drive, then selecting Properties. Select "schedule a disk check on start up"...

I've got two Western Digital drives (one of which is C: ) and a maxtor. I'm running the WD diagnostic now. I'll report back the findings.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Okay, great The C drive is where Windows is installed so it is the 'Important" one to check. If any drive fails only the SMART status but every other test passes, it is still bad, and should be replaced ASAP

Ok I've run the WD diagnostic on the two WD drives as well as the Maxtor diagnostic on that drive, but they've all passed their tests, both SMART and extended. Hmm...

Any advice? Another thing I've just remembered is that after I replaced my cpu cooler the front usb ports on my case have stopped working as well. I haven't yet checked the cables, but I assume that something is loose. Could the two be related somehow? I'll check the cables later today...

Did you clean off the old thermal paste and apply a thin amount of new thermal paste when you replaced the CPU cooler? What version of Windows are you running?

Yes I did, I was very careful with that. All temperatures are fine as well, no problems there. I'm running Windows XP SP3.

I have plans of upgrading to Win 7 sometime in the next few months once I've got the money for it (damn student finances!), so I'll be doing a fresh install and possibly some more upgrades. But if there is a hardware problem I'd like to find it before I upgrade so that everything is running smoothly.

If you have an XP install disc, try doing an XP repair:
XP Repair Instructions

Ok, I'll give that a go. I'm away for a few days but I'll report back once I've run it. Thanks again!