Boot hangs at XP start screen

[John Carlson]

I have a problem where a windows boot hangs at the XP start screen -- the one
that shows the XP logo with the blue boxes moving across the screen under it.
It just sits there indefinitely and never gets any further.

Some history: The hang-up condidtion originally came about after I
installed a USB printer. After trying unsuccessfully for several days to
troubleshoot the problem, I gave up, reformatted and reinstalled XP.

This time, I installed the printer right away, then installed all the other
software, and everything seemed fine, until I installed a group of three
Windows Updates (KB900485, 920872 and 927891) that were offered, On the
reboot following this update, the hang was back.

So I once again reinstalled, and installed the printer and installed all the
software, and this time, I did not install any Windows updates. Everything
seemed fine until I tried to install a second USB printer and then ... back
to the hang condition.

At this point, I'm at my wit's end with this problem and unfortunately, when
the system hangs in this way, there's no hint at what's going wrong. What
can I do to figure out what the problem is?

Any and all help appreciated.
-- John

 

[Maincat]

"John Carlson" <JohnCarlson@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F4838456-D5BB-42E5-9D19-A0038810EF62@microsoft.com...
>I have a problem where a windows boot hangs at the XP start screen -- the
>one
> that shows the XP logo with the blue boxes moving across the screen under
> it.
> It just sits there indefinitely and never gets any further.
>
> Some history: The hang-up condidtion originally came about after I
> installed a USB printer. After trying unsuccessfully for several days to
> troubleshoot the problem, I gave up, reformatted and reinstalled XP.
>
> This time, I installed the printer right away, then installed all the
> other
> software, and everything seemed fine, until I installed a group of three
> Windows Updates (KB900485, 920872 and 927891) that were offered, On the
> reboot following this update, the hang was back.
>
> So I once again reinstalled, and installed the printer and installed all
> the
> software, and this time, I did not install any Windows updates.
> Everything
> seemed fine until I tried to install a second USB printer and then ...
> back
> to the hang condition.
>
> At this point, I'm at my wit's end with this problem and unfortunately,
> when
> the system hangs in this way, there's no hint at what's going wrong. What
> can I do to figure out what the problem is?
>
> Any and all help appreciated.
> -- John

John, This is a guess - when you reinstalled XP, did you also reinstall any
motherboard drivers necessary - like the USB root hub? If not, it might be
worth a try to install them from the CD that came with your MB.

 

[John Carlson]

"Maincat" wrote:

>
> "John Carlson" <JohnCarlson@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:F4838456-D5BB-42E5-9D19-A0038810EF62@microsoft.com...
>
> John, This is a guess - when you reinstalled XP, did you also reinstall any
> motherboard drivers necessary - like the USB root hub? If not, it might be
> worth a try to install them from the CD that came with your MB.
>
>

Yes, I reinstalled the motherboard drivers. I didn't install the USB driver
because both the driver disc and the manufacturer's web site have a note
saying that the driver is only to be used with pre-SP2 (or maybe even
pre-SP1) versions of XP, and that the built-in Windows USB driver should be
used after that. (I have SP2)

-- John

 

[Patrick Keenan]

"John Carlson" <JohnCarlson@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F4838456-D5BB-42E5-9D19-A0038810EF62@microsoft.com...
>I have a problem where a windows boot hangs at the XP start screen -- the
>one
> that shows the XP logo with the blue boxes moving across the screen under
> it.
> It just sits there indefinitely and never gets any further.
>
> Some history: The hang-up condidtion originally came about after I
> installed a USB printer. After trying unsuccessfully for several days to
> troubleshoot the problem, I gave up, reformatted and reinstalled XP.
>
> This time, I installed the printer right away, then installed all the
> other
> software, and everything seemed fine, until I installed a group of three
> Windows Updates (KB900485, 920872 and 927891) that were offered, On the
> reboot following this update, the hang was back.
>
> So I once again reinstalled, and installed the printer and installed all
> the
> software, and this time, I did not install any Windows updates.
> Everything
> seemed fine until I tried to install a second USB printer and then ...
> back
> to the hang condition.
>
> At this point, I'm at my wit's end with this problem and unfortunately,
> when
> the system hangs in this way, there's no hint at what's going wrong. What
> can I do to figure out what the problem is?
>
> Any and all help appreciated.
> -- John

Is the printer physically plugged in to the PC? Try powering down,
unpluggung USB devices other than the mouse, and restarting. It sometimes
happens that USB hardware can prevent booting.

HTH
-pk

 

[John Carlson]

"Patrick Keenan" wrote:

>
> Is the printer physically plugged in to the PC? Try powering down,
> unpluggung USB devices other than the mouse, and restarting. It sometimes
> happens that USB hardware can prevent booting.
>
> HTH
> -pk
>
>
I've just tried that. No luck. the problem is still there when I turn the
computer back on, even with the printer dieconnected.

-- John

 

[Ka2H]

"John Carlson" wrote:

>
>
> "Patrick Keenan" wrote:
>
> >
> > Is the printer physically plugged in to the PC? Try powering down,
> > unpluggung USB devices other than the mouse, and restarting. It sometimes
> > happens that USB hardware can prevent booting.
> >
> > HTH
> > -pk
> >
> >
> I've just tried that. No luck. the problem is still there when I turn the
> computer back on, even with the printer dieconnected.
>
> -- John

May be you will find helpful ideas on Kelly Theriot WEB site:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm

click "B" and scroll down to "Boot - Problems",

or the Windows article "Resources for troubleshooting startup problems in
Windows XP":

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308041&sd=RMVP

Regards,
Ka2H