XP will start in "safe" mode not "normal"

[wolfhound]

Last night after doing a standard reboot my machine will no longer boot into normal mode. Below are my observations.

• System appears to boot normally reaching the XP Pro screen
• Eventually the progress bar stops moving
• Select safe mode or normal mode screen appears
• If Safe is selected system will boot
• Rebooting from safe sends machine into boot loop
• If normal is selected then a quick blue screen flashes
• System continues to reboot

I am thinking that I may have to recover (repair) from the OEM XP CD. Not really sure if this is the correct direction to move in. My other thought is trying to use the Ultimate Boot Disk in order to run a dskchk.

Thoughts and ideas are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[shadowpr]

If it runs in safe mode, but not in normal you can try a few things.

First, have you installed any new drivers?

Do a anti-virus scan.

From safe mode, go to control panel > system > advanced

Select start up and recovery, and unselect automatic restart. Then reboot and try to start in normal mode It should give you a stop code instead of restarting automatically. Write it down and post it here.

[wolfhound]

shadowpr - Thanks for the reply.

I will post my results later today once I am back home in front of the machine.

What anti-virus will work the best in Safe mode?

Thanks.

[shadowpr]

Anyone. What do you currently have installed?

You could also use online scanners. http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeuse...s/activescan/?

[wolfhound]

Oh - I forgot. No driver changes or anything like that has been done in months.

I currently have Norton installed. I am looking at moving to something that run smoother and doesn't eat up some much processor resource.

[shadowpr]

Look at avg, avast, or avira.

Also some anti-spyware.

[wolfhound]

After three spyware scans. Nothing. Now it is onto anti-virus.

[wolfhound]

Two virus scan with 0 viruses found.

Thoughts or ideas?

Thanks.

[shadowpr]

Originally Posted by shadowpr From safe mode, go to control panel > system > advanced Select start up and recovery, and unselect automatic restart. Then reboot and try to start in normal mode It should give you a stop code instead of restarting automatically. Write it down and post it here.

Have you tried that yet?

[Panama Red]

I would try booting with all external devices (printers, ipod, etc.) disconnected and see if that makes any difference. If not, try removing any non essential internal cards (phone modem, sound, etc). Next, try a different vid card. Finally, if you are offered the option of booting to the last known good configuration at the Safe mode boot, try it. I believe you have to have SP2 installed to get this option.

[wolfhound]

BSOD is tellling me that there was a problem with the following file: sunkfilt62.sys

It appears to be an issue with my memory card reader. Should I disconnect it first or attempted to re-install the file?

Thanks.

[shadowpr]

Disconnect it to verify that the problem goes away.

[wolfhound]

System boots up normally. I guess it is time to look into a new and higher quality memory card reader.

Thanks for all the help.