Totally baffled

[empressvee]

Hi, I hope someone can help me.

I have a Gateway computer and Windows ME. Recently, my computer stopped booting at the Windows splash screen. I didn't know what to do so I turned the computer on and off.

Now, the computer has to be turned on and off repeatedly and each time it gets a little farther in the boot process. It takes about 3 tries to get into safe mode. After it boots into safe mode, I reboot and it's fine! It boots perfectly and works perfectly.

I have NoAdware, Spybot and Fix-it Virus software, all of which I have run repeatedly. According to the software, I have not viruses or spyware.

I have run scandisk and disk cleanup and defragged the hard drive.

I can't seem to find an answer to this on the internet.

Does anyone know what is wrong?

Thank you.

 

[REB_ElMagnifico]

Is this a one-time occurance or does it happen constantly? Did you install any hardware or software right before the problem occured?

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Try the utilities from the Storage forum: https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic7602.html
They can test your HD.
If you can, try to start with a bootlog report. In there you can see how far it comes before conking out.

 

[empressvee]

It happens all the time and seems to be getting worse.

The computer is rather unstable and just freezes sometimes and the drive makes this sissing sound.

I haven't installed any hardware.

I don't know which utility to use, I have a Gateway computer and I don't know who made the drive.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

go to www.lavalys.com and get the Free Everest Home edition.
Run that, it will tell you all about the PC innards.