Stuck before XP log-in screen

[JonnyB]

Hey guys,

(Bear in mind - I do not use the welcome screen)

I got some spyware crap, deleted it all (so I thought). Now, once XP has started up, the screen "Starting up..." stays there, with little or no HD activity, but the computer does not freeze.

I attempted to combat this by doing a full system repair using the XP CD, but the problem is still there. However, the system does boot when I use safe mode with command prompt, (and from the command prompt log into explorer). Safe mode (with command prompt) has the same problem as the normal startup, leading me into a brick wall.

Using msconfig I selected a diagnostic startup, hoping that it would change something but to no avail.

Any suggestions? Ideas?

 

[JonnyB]

Hmm, anyone?

 

[meatologist]

my laptop died on me the other week and was doing the same thing.. so i ran a fixboot from the Recovery Console....

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/bootcons_fixboot.mspx

 

[gary_hendricks]

This kind of problem is usually due to network problems. Did you try running in Safe Mode first?