start up problem

[kev59]

Just got my laptop sorted and main comp freezing on startup. It goes through loading the hard drives says ok then freezees on that screen any body any ideas. Running xp with 1gb ram

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

Do you mean it gets to the Windows desktop and then freezes? If not, what screen is this you're talking about? The Welcome (logon) screen?

Or do you mean the screen where it shows details of your hardware including your hard drives before Windows even starts booting?

The moment the laptop starts booting off the hard drive, press F8 and try "Last Good Configuration" and see if that does anything. You have to be very quick about it and do it at the right moment, otherwise XP will just try booting as normal.

Also, you can try to get into "Safe Mode" from that screen; I'm curious if it still freezes in this mode if the "Last Good Configuration" didn't help.

If I'm telling you anything you already know or thought of, forgive me.

 

[Dark Atheist]

boot into safe mode, remove all drivers for sound video network chipset, reboot, then install them one at a time rebooting after each, start with chipset, if its not the drivers doing it it could be an update at fault

 

[kev59]

ok thanks treid all that unplugged all drives except main and it booted kept adding them and when i plugged in floppy drive it froze. prob solved but got blue screen once think main drive maybe on its way out

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

I use HD Sentinel to keep me informed of my hard drive's health and intelligently predict how much longer they'll last me.

Before, I had lost complete 40 GB - 160 GB hard drives without having a backup (I have near a terabyte total in my living room but it's all nearly full so I don't have the room for complete backup).

Edit: oops, I guess you meant that the floppy drive seems to be the culprit. When you said main drive I got confused.