[rainforest123]

Windows XP Pro SP2 or SP3

ASUS 333 motherboard
AMD Athlon 1.8 GHZ
512 MB, 512 MB & 256 MB, DDR 333

80 GB IDE Western Digital HDD

Friend said the problem began out of the blue 26 Oct when PC was turned on.

Boot process proceeded to displaying hardware IRQ information & drive information

At bottom of the screen, white rectangles appeared. The progress area completed the left most 3 or 5 rectangles; then froze.

HDD passed WD's HDD diags.
I removed the 3 sticks of ram & inserted a known working DDR 333 stick, 512 MB

No change.

Thinking that the problem might be a corrupt registry, per http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/307545

At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines, pressing ENTER after you type each line:
md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak

delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default

copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default

Now, the IRQ information is displayed & the drive information is displayed. THEN, a black screen appears. No option to enter safe mode, last known good configuration or other advanced options.

I booted to the recovery console and ran these commands
delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default

copy C:\windows\tmp\system.bak c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy C:\windows\tmp\software.bak c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy C:\windows\tmp\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy C:\windows\tmp\security.bak c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy C:\windows\tmp\default.bak c:\windows\system32\config\default

No change.

I look forward to your assistance.

Edit #1
I replaced the AGP card with a PCI video card.
No change.

I can boot completely to a "desktop" using a UBCD [ Ultimate Boot CD ] [ www.ubcd4win.com ]

Edit #2
Per http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:...ient=firefox-a , it appears that NTLDR

Sincerely,
RF123

[Saga Lout]

You've tried all the right steps in the first instance to fix the Registry but it seems it wasn't broken. I can't comment on the CD you're using in case it isn't approved for posting but it would point to the fact that the drivers are all working. Also, if it offers the opportunity to rescue your data into an external drive, now might be a good time to take that chance.

How long did you leave that progress bar before deciding it wasn't going to complete? I've known cases where I can go away for an hour and it's still there but boots in the end. I've also known it where the next restart is completed in under a minute. Mysterious but nice when it happens like that.

[rainforest123]

S L:
Thanks for your reply.

I did not wait > 5 min. Thanks for the comment about waiting a long time.

SOLVED!

chkdsk / r

Interesting moniker.

unsubscribed

RF123