Hi David,
In addition to the cause proposed, you are describing the classic symptoms of registry corruption. Windows boots, gets blocked by corruption in the registry; gets rebooted into safe mode and restores a good backup registry; and then boots up normally.
Tracking down the cause is the trick. A stray gamma ray or an unusual conflict between device drivers and it goes away until the next weird Windows glitch; probably not for a while. If it recurs consistently, then first try and remember if you're installing a new driver or even software package just before it happens. When the registry is installed from a backup the old driver will be there and you may not even realize it.
Often, though, it is a hardware glitch. Bad memory should be the second suspect. However, since memory problems are often intermittent, it can be quite frustrating to track them down. But, the first thing to do is reseat all the hardware, including any socketed chips. Alternate cycles of heating and cooling often create a bad connection that will be hard to isolate because once the system heats up, the contacts expand and become "good" again.
Good luck,
Steve
Edit: It also can be the result of going into the CMOS and changing the BIOS settings beyond the hardware specs. A way to check that is to alternate between default settings, optimum settings, and safe settings. Sometimes doing this will fix a real problem by reducing the stress on a failing component. The price you pay is degraded system performance. Again, only try this if you are consistently having this problem. |
