XP help please - problem booting

Not to sound funny or anything but have you tried cleanin in around the cpu fan an that i had a problem something similar not so along ago an i cleaned it all out an it went fine

It's not a hardware problem Stevie, but thanks for your ideas.

tim wrote in post #8395905
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.

First, you won't loose purchases via iTunes if you roll back. When you roll back all you're doing is using an older version of the Registry and User Profile. Absolutely nothing is physically changed on the drive. If you allow iTunes to sort your media files all you have to do is copy the Music folder some place else (I keep my library on a drive of it's own). When you reinstall iTunes you just go to Edit > Preferences > Advanced and go find the location of your library - iTunes imports them and whala, you're done. You can also switch libraries by holding down the Shift key while opening iTunes. I have three libraries on three different drives (personal, professional and a backup of personal).

Have you tossed in the XP CD and do a repair? That usually fixes most boot problems. It sounds like one or more of your DLL's or startup item (or services) is corrupt. I would bet my bottom dollar that if you did a system repair the problem would be solved. Not the Recovery Console mind you, but the actual system repair. This is accomplished (if I remember correctly) by booting directly to XP CD, Pressing Enter (install Windows), F8 then NOT installing but going with the Repair option.

If you hit repair at the XP CD install screen it will ask you for the backup floppy, which is what you don't want. Hope that helps.

Thanks Maxxum, i've decided that install is toast. I've started a new thread about ghost and recovering iTunes, i'd love comments on it. I know nothing about iTunes.

Just an idea, start up in safe mode, run system config, on the startup tab uncheck everything that is not needed, i.e just start up with the bare basics.