XP Home freezes at background screen

[Designware]

Hi,

I have an XP Home PC that freezes at the background screen, with no icons or no task bar. The boot process appears to go normally. It goes to the welcome screen where all the users names are listed. When you select one, it goes in and displays the background for that person ... but then freezes.

I have tried to boot of the CD. (I have ensured that the CD-ROM is first in the boot order in BIOS.) It will NOT boot off the CD. It sits and thinks about it for a while, but then goes on to the other boot options.

I tried booting into Safe Mode, but it freezes at the same point. I CAN boot into Safe Mode w/ command prompt. I CAN then see and access the CD-ROM drive. When I try to run SETUP, and do a REPAIR on the operating system, it gives me an error message that says "Setup cannot continue because the version of Windows on your computer is newer than the version on the CD." The CD is the original Dell installation CD that came with the PC.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Dale

 

[Designware]

Just noticed that it doesn't "freeze". If I let it sit long enough on the background screen, the screensaver does start, and the mouse is active. However, the computer is still unusable.

I have attached the hard drive onto another PC and scanned it for viruses. Found and quarantined them. (7 files)

Dale

 

[linney]

You can try removing SP2 and then using your CD to attempt a repair, later restoring SP2, or you can try and create a slipstreamed XP SP2 CD from the original Dell CD.

875350 - How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 from your computer

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;875350&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

875355 - How to use the Automatic Recovery feature to recover your computer if the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Setup program is not completed successfully

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;875355&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Slipstream Service Packs
thread779-900263

This if successful will make the CD match the installed version of files.


Here are some Dell related links which might or might not be helpful?

Dell Knowledge Base Article -
How do I perform a Repair Reinstall of Microsoft® Windows® XP?

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1056993

Follow all the other useful links from the Dell site..

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1090151

ERROR M1004 DELL INSPIRON 2650
thread779-1092503


Some more general suggestions.

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

An easy to follow recovery console description when unable to start computer due to corrupt registry.

http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm

This is a layman's version of Q307545 in simple language.

 

[temporello]

1. It could simply be of someone hiding icons on your desktop...Right click on the desktop if you can to check that.

2.Press Ctrl alt del to bring up task manager and check if explorer.exe is running.