Hello everyone...,

I have been trying to install XP Pro onto my desktop PC. It had been running XP for almost a year without a hitch, when all of a sudden the desktop icons and the taskbar (along with the start button) disappeared.

Try as I might I could not get the issue resolved and so finally decided to re-install XP. I did a format and the install went fine. After the last reboot the screen Windows XP boot screen comes up, (the one before the logon) and just stays there. I tried re-booting but the same thing happens.

I then deleted the partition and re-created it and formatted it and installed XP again... Same result. The boot screen comes up but goes no further.

On a lark I re-formatted the drive and installed Win2003 (disc borrowed from work)... That installed fine, but I can't find drivers for my devices, such as the M-Audio 2496 card for Win2003. So I formatted yet again and used a XP Home disc from a friend....

Same thing... XP installs fine, with no errors but will not go past the boot screen.

Booting into safemode does not work either... even safemode with command prompt.

What could be going on? I am not overclocking or using any special hardware etc... This makes no sense to me at all.

I would appreciate any help you good folks can send my way.

Title edited -- Please, use [TAGS] in your topic's title.

Please follow XP Forum Rules from now on.

--Sonic

Edited March 13, 200620 yr by Sonic

There could be an incompatible device that's causing winxp to hang on the driver loading phase. Disable everything but the absolute neccesary and try booting up again. Also, post ur system.

There could be an incompatible device that's causing winxp to hang on the driver loading phase. Disable everything but the absolute neccesary and try booting up again. Also, post ur system.

Thanks... I finally figured out that the Promise IDE controller was the culprit. I had to take it out and download the latest driver and then re-installed it. The computer boots up just fine now.

Awesome.