XP help please - problem booting

Tonight I applied the latest windows updates, then rebooted. The first time I got to the login screen and clicked my username, nothing happened. After another reboot I got to enter my password, but then it froze. Next time it got as far as loading my background, then it froze.

I went into safe mode and restored to a safe point earlier in the day. Same thing. I restored to a safe point from a few days ago, same thing.

The only recent change is I purchased an iPod Touch 2G, and have installed iTunes and MobileMe. Right now i've rolled back to the point where MobileMe has been removed, but iTunes is still installed. I'm not to keen to roll back to before iTunes was installed because of all the purchases i've made in the iTunes store. If I roll back to before that point then reinstall iTunes will I still have access to all my downloaded apps etc?

It's midnight so I have to go to bed, and i'm out all day tomorrow, but i'll be at work and able to look at the thread. Suggestions would be most welcome as i'm not really sure what to try next.

Edit - solved. I ghosted a drive image back on.

You'll still have access if you remember what your login info is.

Make sure the ipod isn't plugged in when restarting, I've had far too many issues with the ipod interfering with startup.

iPod not plugged in, no idea if it's iTunes or something else causing problem.

Posting from iPod so will be brief. More ideas very welcome.

I've rolled back to pre iTunes, no difference. Will go to later resort point to put iTunes back. Am going to run virus scan overnight via BarPE.

I'm really stumped and don't want to reinstall windows, though I have a ghost backup which would make it a bit faster. Help!!

Try turnin it off pull out the power cable completly, push the power on button on the pc you should see a quick release of power like the fans will spin an a light might come on then it will stop. Put the power plug back in an remove all usb cables except keyboard an mouse then start pc as normal

Don't have to delete things to "reinstall" windows. Try a repair install by putting the disk in the drive and booting from the dvd.

Good ideas thanks. Will try before ghosting image back on. Virus scan will run overnight too. Handy to have this wee computer while main one's down!

Btw pc is SP3, cd is SP0, that ok?

I'm back on the main PC, in safe mode. Nothing was found by the virus scanners on the system drive, no spyware, and unplugging it for 30 seconds made no difference. I'm going to run the Windows SP2 setup now and see if I can repair.

When u uplugged it sid u push the power button on the pc with the power cable disconnected ?

Yes I did, it was by accident but I did it just for a second. The cable was unplugged at the time, and the power switch on the back of the PC was off.

Stupid machine. Safe mode's fine it's def a software issue. If noone has a bright idea may have to ghost it and spend the time updating all the software again

Are you overclocked? If it boots consistently in safe mode but not in normal load, it's almost certainly a driver or startup app issue. This is a PITA but what you need to do is add-on driver/app loads one at a time and reboot each time to see which one is causing the error.

This should help: http://support.microso​ft.com/kb/310353

tim wrote in post #8396120
Btw pc is SP3, cd is SP0, that ok?

yea, disk is fine, I've used it plenty of times like that. It may need a net connection though.

FZ1 wrote in post #8397297
Are you overclocked? If it boots consistently in safe mode but not in normal load, it's almost certainly a driver or startup app issue. This is a PITA but what you need to do is add-on driver/app loads one at a time and reboot each time to see which one is causing the error.

This should help: http://support.microso​ft.com/kb/310353

It's not overclocked, running stock with a good heatsink. I took a look at that and I was planning on trying it but... read below.

basroil wrote in post #8397601
yea, disk is fine, I've used it plenty of times like that. It may need a net connection though.

Repair mode is just a command prompt! That didn't help me much!

Anyway, it's moot now. I ran XP setup from within windows, then cancelled, rebooted and left the machine, and when I came back it was half way through the XP setup so my existing install is toast. I'll have to ghost it from my most recent backup, which was 3-4 months ago, then do all the updates again. Oh well, at least it's a reasonably clean install but with most of my apps there.

Thanks for the help