HELP! NT machine immediately freezes once desktop is displayed

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Hi all,
I have this NT workstation that allows me to login as well as popping up a message saying "something didn't start, please check the Event Viewer for details", but right as the desktop loads and I try to maneuver around the machine freezes completly! Taskmanager doesn't work to kill programs, so I have to manually reboot the PC...

Arrghh! Help

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Me again, just talked to a friend of mine and he was suggesting to save the SAM._ and Secure._ files under DOS mode (booting with a floppy, since the partition is FAT16) and then using ERD disks to fix the problem.

I'm kinda lost at what he was saying. Anyone care to elaborate for me?

[Lowland]

If your box is on a network, try and access the event log files from another machine once the bad box has booted.

Driver failure at start-up can be caused by many different things. Any new hardware added?

Failing that, hit space bar at OS load to get to last known good profile.

Failing that... re-install NT workstation. There is a repair mode available, but if you don't have a repair disk (emergency recovery disk you should nake on each soft/hardware install, you'll go back to the original (cd rom) installation.

Good luck

[Rejection Man]

unfortunalty last know good will not wrok! If you have all ready logged it the systems has updatded the LKG profile to inclue all the "new" changes. restoring the LKG will only retore your current stat after you have loged on to the system. LKG is only good for errors prior to logon. A system repair, or rebuild is about all I have to suggest, other than accessing the event veiw remotly

[thirdfey]

Can you get into VGA Mode fine? I would change the video card and/or network card and see what that does before hosing the system.

[Ya_know]

[quote]Originally posted by Marduk:
<strong>Me again, just talked to a friend of mine and he was suggesting to save the SAM._ and Secure._ files under DOS mode (booting with a floppy, since the partition is FAT16) and then using ERD disks to fix the problem.

I'm kinda lost at what he was saying. Anyone care to elaborate for me?</strong><hr></blockquote>

He is implying that you run the repair, and use the Emergency Repair Disk. Start here: <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q103/2/80.asp?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=Emergency%20Repair%20&rnk=4&src= DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=NTW40" target="_blank">Using an Emergency Repair Disk Created by Windows NT</a> If you don't have an ERD (most people don't so don't feel bad) you can still run the repair. It will just come from the CD instead. I always start with the minimal options first, get back into the OS and see if it worked. Keep adding options as you go, and eventually you will be left with a reinstall of all, including the registry. Most non system files will still be intact, however all programs, NT service packs and what not will need to be reinstalled.

Hint: If the hardware supports booting from the CDROM, you can boot to the NT CD, and use the three startup disks to level a wobbly table. The CD is much quicker, and does the same thing.

[ViperZ2001]

<font face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva" size="2">Originally posted by thirdfey:
Can you get into VGA Mode fine? I would change the video card and/or network card and see what that does before hosing the system.</font>

I think this could be the issue. I had the same thing happen when I load NT4 fresh and then the drivers for the video. I use an AGP video card so the correct sequence would be: NT, NTSP6a, and then the video drivers.

Just a thought...