Hi!
My XP pro was perfectly fine untill one day it started getting stuck at startups. When i first start the computer, it gets stuck after aprox 30 secs and requires a reboot. On the second go it takes it about 40 secs before it freezes again. On the 3rd time - 45 secs and so on. Eventually, after about 10 restarts, the windows manages to stay up and running.
Now, what have i already tried? Well, it runs perfectly well when in safe mode, so that eliminates a few things. I've tried all that the windows troubleshooter suggested which was to
- use system restore. i restored it to before the SP2 was installed and even as far back as i could. i didn't have any restore points created by me. only automatic ones..
- try and disable some hardware on the device manager
- perform a selective boot without the startup items, the system.ini, win.ini etc'.
- rollback drivers
- check for viruses.
All these did nothing at all. The next step on the troubleshooter was to uninstall windows XP.
IS THERE ANY OTHER WAY?!
hope there is...
Noam

Have you tried running MSconfig and taking processes out of the startup to determine the program that's stopping the machine?? I don't mean all processes, I mean one by one.

Frequent causes of stuff like this is spyware, and ironically anti-virus as well.

A scandisk, virus check, spyware check (in that order) are recommended.
Then use MSConfig. Remove any non-service startup program that's there. Add them back one by one until you identify the program. For services use the Services program in administrative tools- for various reasons fiddling with services from msconfig is not a good idea. Disable particularly third party services.

Have you looked in the event viewer, system and application sections? Are there any errors happening? particularly those before a lockup? Or is there a common "last entry" in either before the lockups? That might help identify the culprit.

I'd say your devices are fine if safe mode works. System restore probably wasn't useful if it's a third party (Non-ms program).

If you said that removing all startup items still had problems but safe mode worked, I'd run system file checker (open a command prompt then sfc /scannow). barring other revelations, at that poitn I'd consider a reinstall. If safe mode's had problems, take a look at the hardware, particularly motherboard caps.

PS- Welcome to Techspot! :wave: