WinXP Pro Doesn't Boot

[ohgee]

I cannot get WinXP Pro_SP2 to consistently boot up.  
This is a sudden problem, not gradual.  My (7) year old system has been working quite well when I had
shut it down for the night (2) days ago.  It suddenly wouldn't boot up the following morning.
The BIOS goes through its POST phase after which the screen goes black.  About (10) minutes
later a DOS-type message comes up to "apologize for the inconvenience but windows did not
start successfully....." and gives the various options to choose: safe mode; last known good
configuration; start windows normally, etc.  Whichever I choose, nothing happens for about another
(10) minutes after which a progress-type bar appears below the message and slowly advances
across, after which the system restarts and re-cycles again as described above.
Happily, once in a while, rather than re-cycling,  Windows actually boots up and I am able to do
some work.  I now dare not to shut down the system but to keep it running.
I have a Pentium II, (384)MB RAM, and a new (80) GB HDD installed (2) months ago.  I have SP2
as a result of first loading the original SP1 version and re-loading the SP2 disk on top of that.  I've run
Scandisk, jv16 on the Registry, Zone Alarm, AdAware and PrevX installed, and deleted some suspect apps.
Nothing I do seems to help. It won't even boot to Safe Mode.
I didn't have a good point at which I could perform a System Restore.  I had thought to reload
Windows.  However, if I reload the SP1 disk I get the message that it's an older version than what's
installed.  I would then have to reload the SP2 disk.  I, of course, backed up my data.
I, and my computer, certainly hope that you can help.  Thanks in advance, ohgee.

[patio]

Repair Install of XP

I suggest printing this out for reference beforehand.

Your programs and data will remain intact if this done properly...

patio.  8-)

[ohgee]

Patio, thanks for responding.

I haven't slipstreamed my SP2 disk with the SP1 original.  I had thought of conducting a Repair.  However, since after doing a Repair with the SP1 original, I would have to reload SP2 on top of that into the machine.  In that case, wouldn't it be simpler to just reload SP2 without going through a Repair?  Would the SP2 disk, perhaps, clear up my system by replacing damaged files?

ohgee.

[patio]

A repair install fixes any issues with XP...reloading SP2 might not do the trick if the issue is not related to an SP2 component.
After the repair install it's possible you might have to re-install SP2 but that doesn't take long.

Why not go ahead and create your slipstreamed CD and run the repair from that to be safe ? ?

If you need a good guide for slipstreaming let us know...

[ohgee]

Hi Patio,

You won't believe this.  I tried your suggestion on first making a slipstreamed disk.  I used Autostreamer for this.  When it came to burning the .iso file (using Nero 5.0) I got the error message that the file is too big for the CD-RW disk.  Sure enough, the .iso file is 755.438 MB.  Could this large file be the result of using my corrupted computer to make the slipstreamed file?  What's your take on this?

It looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and do your suggested Repare install using the separate disks.  I certainly would like to know what caused my beautiful (7) y.o. computer to go bananas.  I suppose I'll soon have to build another computer to get the latest bells and whistles.

Your response to the above will certainly be appreciated.............. ohgee.

[GX1_Man]

If you got 7 years on an original installation of Windows you got lucky!