Windows XP wont fully boot

[Solido888]

Thank you in advance to anyone who took the time to read my post and hopefully reply with useful information.

I run Windows XP Pro SP1. I uninstalled my old AV/Firewall and then installed my new one (Panda Plat internet security), when the installer prompted me to reboot i did but now my comp wont boot all the way. It comes up to my desktop, but stops immediately after my wallpaper appears and just seems to freeze. No icons appear, no apps appear to start. Well thats pretty much it. Again thanks for any help. By the way im trying to avoid a format.

 

[Solido888]

forgive me for sounding noob but the only way i know of to start in safe mode is to choose that option in the shutdown menu which i cant get to now. please enlighten me.

 

[DraftHorsePower]

boot your comp, when the start up screen is up press the F8 key

 

[Soloman02]

I had a similar problem, i got to the desktop, with no icons or a start menu. what happened was Internet Download accelerator had told me about a corrupt registry ( or something around that) i just ignored it and shut my comp down when i went to sleep. that same thing happened to me when i booted it up. the only fix i could find was to put the xp cd in and reinstall windows over my existing copy ( saving all my data, except fo the OS files) you should also try to get into safe mode, but i think i tried it and it froze when loading the mup.sys file. if you can't get to safe mode, or that doesn't help solve your problem, try repairing windows like what i did. you may have to redownload all the up dates, but that is better than reformatting and losing everything.

 

[Solido888]

thank you to all who replied. my comp would not even boot in safe mode. however, pressing f8 at boot up also gives me the option to boot using the last know working configuration which did solve my problem. you guys saved me a lot of time and heartache.

THANKS