Great, XP won't even start in safe mode.

[iStink]

Here are some things I did prior to my system not getting into windows:

I uninstalled Gamestop Comrade (didn't even know what it was.)
I set my folder options to hide hidden system files.
I rearranged my desktop icons and removed plenty.
I installed Call of Duty 4 - World at War (which took FOREVER.)

Before going to bed I restarted, and it got into windows partially. The desktop didn't load up. So I went to my task manager to start the process explorer.exe. After that, task manager stopped responding. I was able to get another task manager window up but it too stopped responding. I pressed cntrl alt del and selected shut down but nothing happened, so I forced a restart with the case button.

Upon restart, after the XP loading screen the screen goes blank and nothing happens. When I attempt safe mode, it locks up after giveio.sys (normally the last file loaded when attempting safe mode) and nothing happens. I also tried "last known settings that worked."

Any ideas?

 

[iStink]

OK update:

I shut the computer down entirely (instead of just hitting the restart button to get xp to start.) I then plugged in a usb drive and a wireless usb network adapter. THE SYSTEM HAS STARTED UP.

Now I have new questions: Is it safe to restart? Should I do anything to check the system for errors?

 

[kiriakost]

If there is a hardware issue as PSU damage , try to boot with less to minimum ram, and devices .

EDIT .. message prior

OK update:

Now check hard drive "scandisk" .

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Overclocked...

 

[iStink]

Overclocked...

I used to run 3.6ghz at 1.5, and it passed dual orthos for over 24 hours. I brought it down to 3.4 but kept it at 1.5 (for peace of mind.) The tuniq tower 120 keeps it very cool. Max load never gets above 60.

When I went to bed I was running dual orthos and 6 hours later it was still going. I have about a 99% certainty it will still be going when I get home. My gut feeling says it's not hardware related, but shutting the computer down and letting it sit for a little while completely off makes me think perhaps its the hdd.

My second guess (if its not an old hdd failing) is the stuff I did with the desktop icons. At first I started moving some stuff around but realized I was moving thumbs.db and then creating copies. Perhaps there was some corruption here some how.

Either way it's up and running passing stress tests and scandisk reported no errors. Very odd.

I swear I was just thinking how happy i was with my configuration and how long it's gone being stable. I haven't reinstalled windows in over 4 years now and it still runs as snappy as day one with the diskeeper's auto defrag on (moves most used files to front of hdd)