boot trouble

[jagfar]

I recently (last week) built my first system

Case: Casedge Dialolic Minitaur 400 W PS
Mobo: Gigabyte 8KNXP
CPU: Intel P4 2.6 Ghz
Mem: Kingston 1 gig
HDD: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9 ATA/133 120 gig
Audio: SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
Video: NVIDIA GE Force FX 5700 Ultra
OS: Windows XP Pro

Everything is cool and pretty stable with one exception. When I reboot, about 50 % of the time after the Window XP comes up on the screen, it just goes blank. The mouse shows up, but nothing else. If I shut down, about 50 % of the time it boots up fine. If I put a bootable disk in, it boots up fine except for once.

I believe this started after I installed Norton Utilities, not 100 % sure as I was on a roll... Have thought about doing uninstall, but I want to be able to use the utility and am hoping someone here may have suggestion to clear up.

All software installs went OK. All hardware drivers have been updated. All software, including windows and Norton Utilities have been updated. I have cleaned up wsconfig using advice from blackviper.com

Any help?

[Markoman01027]

Hello Jagfar,

I would uninstall Norton Utilities and see if the problem will go away. Why keep using a software that only gives you computer problems? Whatever Norton Utilities do, Windows can do, and many other software out there on the internet.

I have never ran Norton Utilities and never will.

[Confused]

Originally posted by jagfar I believe this started after I installed Norton Utilities, not 100 % sure as I was on a roll... Have thought about doing uninstall, but I want to be able to use the utility and am hoping someone here may have suggestion to clear up. Any help?

Something has caused it to become unstable. I would start by uninstalling Norton's. Unfortunately if it is Norton's, uninstalling may not fix the problem as it leaves traces behind. If you get lucky and it does fix the problem, the only thing you want from Norton's is their antivirus (I believe AVG is just as good) and Ghost. There are a lot of things I want. I would like to smoke without it harming me, but know I cain't and therefore I don't. Sometimes in life we just have to admit that something we purchased is a POS and let go.

Chas

[Statica]

If you really want to test out the system's stability sans-Norton Utilities, I'd suggest you do a system restore to before installing utilities rather than doing an uninstall. As was mentioned, it leaves too much traces behind.
What specifically are you looking to get from NU that you feel you cant do without. The consensus, on this board at least, has been that other than the Antivirus, there isnt anything NU has that could be deemed indispensable - and more often than not is the source of more problems than solutions.

[jagfar]

The main things I use from Norton is the WIN Dr. and the optimization. What safe services replaces these?

[Markoman01027]

Optimization= You can use Windows Defragger for that

[jagfar]

OK I understand the defragger, but what does Windows have that would replace the WIN Dr.

This might not be the forum for this question and don't flame me for asking, but why does an established program like Norton U. have such a bad rep amongst the "PC savvy" folks?

[jagfar]

OK... I uninstalled all Norton utilities... same problem.

I think I am going to start from scratch and reformat the drive. Before I do, is there anything else I should check out first?

[Confused]

No, if it was Norton's utilities and removal didn't work you can go to Symantec's site and use their manual removal method.
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...e=&svy=&csm=no

What is their Win Dr. that you want to use? If I know what it is maybe XP has a comparable tool.
Chas

[Statica]

Before reinstalling, I would urge you once again to try a system restore to a date before you put in Norton (if you have one).

[jagfar]

The Win Dr. is part of the utility package and it corrects errors that it detects after scanning the boot records, registry, etc.

As far as the restore goes... unfortunately one of the pieces of advice given at blackviper.com was to disable restore as it is never used and until this I have never had occassion to use it, so I thought it reasonale.

I am not looking forward to starting from scratch as there is a ton of updates to contend with... I will try the symatec site suggested...

[Confused]

I like the Blackviper site, but I cain't do without system restore. I put stuff on mine from time to time that causes problems, or doesn't work and simple restore and I'm back before it happened. I think you need to reevaluate system restore. I know it has saved my butt on more than one occassion.

I don't see a lot of value ot the Win Dr. I'm not much on changing things like that on every boot. A good registry cleaner is all you need. Easycleaner version 2.0 does a very good job. http://www.docsdownloads.com/easycleaner.htm

Chas