Black screen at login

[Bobh]

Hi -
I am running Vista Home Basic  32 bit on an E-Machine desk top.
Problem:  When I login I get the Microsoft logo then "Welcome" with a rolling circle.  If this stays on for 30 seconds then I get a black screen for a minute and a half.  The background screen  then comes up and everything else is normal.   This procedure does not happen everytime but appears to be randum.
The normal procedure is for the "Welcome" with the circle to stay on for 5 seconds and then the background screen to appear.
What I have done:  My thoughts was the problem was related to the start up programs.  I deleted all start up programs except Avast which I left.  That did not help.  I then deleted all temp files except 19 which I thought were necessary.  That did not help.  I have ran security (Avast,   Malwares, Spywares) and all my cleaner programs.  That did not help.
I read all the forum notes but none seemed to be related.
This is not a big problem but  I would like to run faster.  My computer is 5 years old.  I have not blown the dust out because I am afraid to mess something up.  Is my computer about to crater with old age?
Thanks for help.    Bob

[Allan]

Aside from anything else, you MUST blow out the dust.

[truenorth]

In addition to the cleaning you might want to run a free Crucial RAM scan to see if you can increase your RAM. The additional factor you should consider if you wish to increase the RAM is that unfortunately older RAM (which your computer probably uses) is often considerably more expensive than modern RAM. So given the vintage of the computer that should be considered.truenorth

[Bobh]

Allan -
I blew the dust out.  In taking the case apart (I didn't know what I was doing.) I took more sides off than I needed to as I found out later .  I though for a while I would not get it back together.  We will see if that helps my problem.  I will let you know the results.    Thanks for your time.      Bob

[Allan]

Bob, I don't know that dust was your problem, but you MUST blow out the dust on a regular basis or the heat buildup will be phenomenal. I do it every six months on all systems.

[Bobh]

Allan -
Apparent dust was not my problem.  I did not see much dust when I blew it out.   I can not detect any change in the black screen.  It is so random I don't see how any one can help the problem until it happens every time I login.  I am willing to live with the problem for now.  I just wondered if this was an indiction that my computer was telling me to go buy a new one.  Thanks for your help.    Bob

[Allan]

It may be a faulty driver taking time to load - or it may be something else. If it was happening every time we could try a selective startup, but as you say - intermittent problems are extremely difficult to troubleshoot.

[truenorth]

In the event that my earlier suggestion re the Ram was overlooked  it was proposed in relation to this " but  I would like to run faster" truenorth

[Bobh]

Truenorth -
I should have replied to your suggestion.  Sorry    I do not know how to check my Ram,  I'm not too smart about computers.
However I do not think the size of my Ram is related to my problem as I have not changed the way I use this computer and the problem has recently started.  The problem is only at start up when I turn the computer on and login.  As I said before this is not something I am going to worry about.  I will just wait a couple minutes and go on about my business.  I just thought maybe someone had had the problem before.   Thanks      Bob

[Allan]

I don't think it's ram related either, but if you ever want to check:

download memtest (http://memtest.org/). Burn it to a cd using a dedicated .iso burning utility (http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm), make sure the cd drive is at the top of the boot order in bios, then boot to the newly created cd and run the utility.

[Bobh]

Allan -
I may have fixed my problem.  I went to "start"  and clicked on "Bob".  This brought up over 60  file folders.  A lot of them looked like this:   
        ntuser.dat{f4c3413a-5ceb-1
          REGTRANS-MS file
           512KB

I went to the bottom of the list and deleted the last 3 just to see what would happen.   Since then the black screen has not appeared.   What did I do?   Nothing seems changed except I got rid of the black screen.  From such a poor description can you tell me what these file folders are for and can I delete them or at least some.  If they are not useful I could save space by my deleting.

[jill8beans2]

probably a very stupid question, but, have you tried manually turning your system of by taking out the battery and pressing in the power button for about 10 seconds?  When all else fails for me, I resort to this and it always works.

[Bobh]

jill8beans2 -
This maybe a stupid answer but I am not aware I have a battery.  I have a desk top computer not a notebook which I assume has a battery.

Allan -
I spoke too soon.  The problem I spoke of in my first post is still with me.  I will just put up with it until something bad happens.  Maybe I will call in a geek.  Can you tell me anything about the file folders I mentioned?  What are they and can I delete them?   Thanks     Bob

[reddevilggg]

probably a very stupid question, but, have you tried manually turning your system of by taking out the battery and pressing in the power button for about 10 seconds?  When all else fails for me, I resort to this and it always works.

Feel free to ignore this post

[Salmon Trout]

Feel free to ignore this post

jill8beans2 is a spammer.