Stuck on the "Welcome Screen" - Windows XP

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BobbyFowler

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My laptop was running fine until yesterday. It's 3 years old. It's running Windows XP. The problem now is that when it starts up, it only gets to the Windows "Welcome" page. It plays that little jingle, the "Welcome" flicks up & it just stalls. I've tried the on/off switch. That brings me either to Hibernate or switches it off. If it goes to hibernate & I restart it makes no difference. If I switch it on & off it makes no difference. With the hibernate option you can press F8 for booting up. One starts a fresh restart, the other lets you continue as normal. Neither works. I've also tried Ctrl, Alt, Delete when the screen is stuck. I've gone this way to restart the computer but no joy at all. I've got my info backed up but am a bit worried at this stage as I've got some important programs on the computer. Does anyone have any idea how I can sort this out? I'm in San Francisco at the moment, moving onto Oz so there's no point recommending any of the Computer Places at home. If I've no joy I'll check some of the spots here.
 
What changed between it working and not working?

If it's a Dell then no harm in running the diagnostics for your particular model just to check for possible hardware problems. Other manufacturers may have their own
equivalent tests. Check their websites.

If you are in SF then there should be innumerable places you could go for advice. You're just north of Silicon Valley after all!

Can you boot into Windows Safe Mode?
 
Is it definitely running through the full initial boot up? are you using Mains power or battery only? you could try shutting down, removing the battery (be sure you're removing the battery and not the hard disk) re installing the battery and booting again. Other than that definitely try booting in safe mode as suggested.
 
If it's a software rather than hardware problem then a System Restore might get you out of trouble if you can get into the machine in Safe Mode. Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore
 
BobbyFowler said:
My laptop was running fine until yesterday. It's 3 years old. It's running Windows XP. The problem now is that when it starts up, it only gets to the Windows "Welcome" page. It plays that little jingle, the "Welcome" flicks up & it just stalls. I've tried the on/off switch. That brings me either to Hibernate or switches it off. If it goes to hibernate & I restart it makes no difference. If I switch it on & off it makes no difference. With the hibernate option you can press F8 for booting up. One starts a fresh restart, the other lets you continue as normal. Neither works. I've also tried Ctrl, Alt, Delete when the screen is stuck. I've gone this way to restart the computer but no joy at all. I've got my info backed up but am a bit worried at this stage as I've got some important programs on the computer. Does anyone have any idea how I can sort this out? I'm in San Francisco at the moment, moving onto Oz so there's no point recommending any of the Computer Places at home. If I've no joy I'll check some of the spots here.
Click to expand...

Have you tried to start in safe mode. When the computer is booting up you will see an option to enter a boot menu (usually F2 or F8). You should be able to select safe mode - you should be able to get logged in safe mode. Perhaps you may be able to see what is causing the issue then...
 
Cheers everyone. Tried Safe Mode. Logged on to Windows XP Media Centre & was able to access a certain portion of what's on my computer. Wasn't sure what to do next. Asked the guy in the hotel & he said to bring it to Best Buy's "Geek Centre". They did a check on it & said that the problem was most probably with a Virus & Spyware. They reckoned the virus was stalling it on the Welcome Screen. As I'm only here for 2 days, they said they wouldn't be able to fix it. They thought it was fixable without having to do a System Restore. I'll be in Oz in just over a weeks time. Should I just sit tight & drop it into a computer place over there or does anyone know how I can go into Safe Mode & get rid of any viruses that are there? I'm fairly up to speed on Computers but don't want to do anything stupid (deleting stuff that shouldn't be deleted for example)
 
No matter what, I'd suggest that you first try to save your own documents, pictures, music files, etc. to a USB or CD in case something really drastic happens to the computer while you are trying to fix it.

Saying that it is probably caused by a virus/spyware is common; that a computer is actually affected by a virus/spyware is another. How confident are the Best Buy guys in their preliminary view?

Also, think carefully back to the last time and date that your computer worked properly: what did you do that might have caused the problem (e.g., downloaded a file that had a virus/spyware associated with it, shut down the computer unexpectedly etc). If you can nail down this date, you might be able to isolate the problem and you can also try to use that as the date to set your System Restore to (see other posts and below).

Have you tried to log on to several online virus/spyware checkers and run some basic tests yourself? If you still can log on to the internet on your computer, you should be able to do this in Safe Mode. The one time that I actually did have a debilitating virus, it was blocking my access to the virus-checking sites, while permitting me access to other sites, which is a pretty good sign it's a virus. If you can get them on to your computer through the internet, a USB, or a CD in Safe Mode, you should also be able to run virus and spyware cleaners that you can buy in stores, online, or use freeware programs.

I've had similar problems to yours, and it's usually (at least in my experience), not a virus/spyware. I have been able to fix these problems by:

(a) running CHKDSK (takes a hell of long time, but often times fixes many problems),
(b) doing a System Restore in Safe Mode back to the last date you know your computer was working properly, and/or
(c) using a program like CCleaner (freeware) to fix the registry.

Trust me: I've had to do all three of these things in one evening! It can be time-consuming, but there is a decent shot that this will work.

Best of luck!
 
Thanks for that Sunshine.
I'm running the CHKDSK at the moment.
There's a lot of functionality I lose when in Safe Mode.
Where exactly do I go to log on to the Hotel's Wireless Network?
Normally I'd have a bar along the bottom of the Start menu, I'd click on the wireless bar & go from there. That's not there at the moment.
I've gone into Control Panel & Internet Options as well as Wireless Network Setup. I can't see where I log in.
Any ideas?
Cheers.
 
Can't recall offhand but perhaps Safe Mode does not support some or all networking by default? It's mainly provided as an emergency mode for fixing problems.
 
I've got a Network Connection now. I ran the full CHKDSK - there were no messages at the end. Took a long time as Sunshine mentioned. I'm presuming it did what it's supposed to do. I had the CCleaner on the computer so ran that. I ran it on both Windows & Applications. Tried starting up again but same problem. As far as doing a System Restore in Safe Mode back to the last date when everything was running okay - I've tried running that but it doesn't give me any option to input the date. It just starts up Windows XP in Safe Mode as usual. I recently changed from AVG AntiVirus to the Avira Free Version. Not sure if that has anything to do with it. I'm running a complete scan now.

Great news! It's back up & running. Once I did the scan & all the other bits & bobs mentioned by Sunshine, went to F8, did a reboot & it's fine. Fingers crossed, that's the way it'll stay. Thanks for all the help!
 
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Bobby:

Glad this (whatever this was!) worked.

It's one of the big flaws with a software-based OS like XP that something this debilitating can keep you from using the computer.

CHKDSK is great at fixing a lot of problems (particularly the cold boot problems), but it doesn't give much feedback (just telling you what percentage of your hard drive that it's on). It usually runs 5 different stages, and you can sense you have a problem when it spends a long time stuck at one percentage. I've since learned that many diagnostic programmes actually use CHKDSK in the background, but just overlay an interface on it.

FYI...I also have Kaspersky Antivirus and Spyware Doctor running fulltime on our computer. I then run CCleaner to clean the computer (particularly the massive amount of junk that is picked up by the browser) and fix the registry about once a week as a routine matter. The "experts" also say to run CHKDSK once a month, even if there are no visible problems. By doing all of this, I'm able to keep our little old Dell chugging along.

Again, this is a real problem with XP. It is far better and more stable than its predecessors, but you do need to maintain it. I have no formal IT training, so take it for what it's worth, but this seems to work for me.

Best of luck!
S
 
BobbyFowler said:
I've got a Network Connection now. I ran the full CHKDSK - there were no messages at the end.
Click to expand...
CHKDSK success does not guarantee that there is nothing wrong! It's a pretty basic filesystem integrity check and repair tool.
Great news! It's back up & running. Once I did the scan & all the other bits & bobs mentioned by Sunshine, went to F8, did a reboot & it's fine. Fingers crossed, that's the way it'll stay. Thanks for all the help!
Click to expand...
I'm confused. What specifically rectified the problem?
 
Quick update - on my way from San Francisco to Santa Cruz so I'll be even closer to Silicon Valley!
The only thing I did different last night was after going to F8 on Start Up, I chose the Reboot option from there. It worked then. I've spent so long fluting around with this that I thought I'd better get back to MrsF & babyF. I didn't try logging on again.
Tried logging on as normal now. Didn't work! Did the F8 & then Reboot & it worked. I'm downloading the latest Antiva update at the moment. I'm back up important stuff & get things fixed up when we get to Oz.
 
Just booted up & it's all back up & working :confused:
That Event Viewer is pretty good. I had a quick scan through some of the messages logged. The ones I've put in below are the ones in Error State. They occured over the course of 2 or 3 minutes.
Next time I've the problem I'll go back in & check out exactly what happened at that particular time.

The SonyCPU service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

The DHCP Client service depends on the NetBios over Tcpip service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

The TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service depends on the AFD service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

The IPSEC Services service depends on the IPSEC driver service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

The VAIO Entertainment File Import Service service depends on the VAIO Entertainment Database Service service which failed to start because of the following error:
The dependency service or group failed to start.

The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
AFD
avgio
avipbb
DMICall
Fips
intelppm
IPSec
MRxSmb
NetBIOS
NetBT
RasAcd
Rdbss
ssmdrv
Tcpip
Tosrfcom

DCOM got error "This service cannot be started in Safe Mode " attempting to start the service EventSystem with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{1BE1F766-5536-11D1-B726-00C04FB926AF}
 
When the boot "gets stuck" do you hear any clicking or other odd noises from the hard disk? Press your ear to the base of the laptop near the drive if necessary. If so then your hard disk could be dying. As I mentioned earlier (especially if it's a Dell) get and run the manufacturer's hardware diagnostics just to check for hardware problems. I would also consider taking the hard disk out, installing it in/connecting it to another machine as an external drive and then doing some detailed scanning for viruses, malware, rootkits etc. etc. there (without otherwise accessing files on the external hard drive). These two approaches go some way to eliminating hardware problems or infection as the cause of the problems - in which case it's most likely a Windows or other software problem. As ever it's a process of elimination and a rigorous and systematic approach is required. It may be that it's simpler, quicker and most cost effective to get a professional on the job.
 
I'd better get this fixed professionally. Didn't work at all earlier, from a fresh start or with a reboot. I'm logged on now in Safe Mode. Can't seem to access Performance & Maintenance either in Control Panel. No dying sounds on the hard disk though. While it's encouraging to see things working every now & again I think I need to get someone fixing it good 'n proper.
 
Got it fixed in Melbourne. What I noticed was that if I logged off my own user name & logged back in, I'd get around the problem. The guy went into the Systems Configuration Utility & knocked off a few of the programs that start up automatically when the computers booting up. For example he said that my mobile phones software, which is on the computer, had 4 things booting up at the start. He said that there was something which was obviously corrupted that was stopping it from booting up correctly. He would have knocked off 7-10 programs which he said could be causing it. Anyway - it's all grand now. Cheers!
 
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