XP "Windows is starting" hang. KB307545 or repair install?

[lemonstar]

I first stated looking into this about 4-5 days ago so some water has gone under the bridge.

I returned to my machine to find a BSoD (can't remember the fault it logged - I remember thinking it looked very general and non-specific - I think it was XXXXXXX????_PAGE_FAULT but I'm not 100% sure about that.) It's been many years since I had a BSoD so it's not part of an ongoing sequence of problems - it was literally out of the blue. I thought a restart would clear it but it didn't.

Several restarts & several BSoD's later - I decided to try an F8 - I didn't get anywhere with booting last known good config, etc. So I decided to use the BIOS to make it boot the Windows XP install CD and start the recovery console.

I ran chkdsk /p and restarted - and I think that's when the "Windows is starting..." page started to appear instead of the BSoD. I found if I leave the machine like that for some indeterminate amount of time (I go off and do something else for an hour or more (not sure exactly how long) it does eventually come up with the login screen BUT there are no accounts listed. I Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the Administrator login up and can log in BUT then nothing happens - the dialog with the OK button you click on to login is greyed out and the dialog stays displayed with only the Cancel button enabled. Nothing happens if you wait. Eventually I just Cancel & reboot.

I ran chkdsk /f (it said it fixed one problem) from the recovery console and still have the same problem - the "Windows is starting..." screen just hangs around for ages until I get the login screen with no accounts listed.

In my mind I think the boot hard drive is okay. I think the registry is messed up. The BIOS on boot tells me that that HD is okay. In fact I also booted the machine using a free DVD from a PC magazine - a ubuntu installation you can run from the DVD. That showed me all the folders on the boot drive - I even ran a disk test from ubuntu and that was fine. (If I ever get this XP install working I'm going to go for a dual boot with whatever linux package is the soup-of -the-day.)

Searching around for answers. I came across this:-
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545
which seems relevant to my problem.

I now wonder if I should follow that procedure or go for a repair install or whether there is something else I can try from the recovery console.

Fortunately my physical boot drive (80G) contains no data - it's all of my program installations and windows itself. My personal data is on a 2nd slave drive. The boot drive has a reasonable amount of space on it from what I remember - say 25%, so it's not crammed to the hilt or anything.

Any help appreciated.

Neil

[A31]

Hi I would do a reinstall of XP if you have the media, seems to me like Windows is corrupted, if the same BSOD occurs check your RAM using freeware Memtest86 I got a shed load of BSODs just a few months ago due to RAM issues and after having checked my RAM I found that one of my 4 sticks was faulty, and since removing the faulty stick I have not had any blue screens since. Hope all goes well!