Hi Don Penlington,
Thanx for the response.Actually I run only two programs at start up ie
Systray and ScanRegistry .And my computer is a piece of DIY stuff-do it
yourself.I bought different parts at different places and assembled it  with
some of my friends' help.But they are not that good when it comes to the
software problems..one more thing,I got some BSODs with Vxd fatal exception
error.I tried Vxd patch(I think it was from Nospin.com).It seemed to have
helped a bit but wasn't a radical cure.I heard that these kinda problems(Vxd
and blank booting) can be caused by the outdated Norton antivirus programs.I
don't think I have tried any of them.Do they come with Win98?If so how can I
get rid of them?Thanx
Kshitiz Chandra
----- Original Message -----
From: don penlington <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2000 4:21 PM
Subject: [PCSOFT] Windows boots to a blank screen...


> Kshitiz Chandra writes:
>
> <<Recently when I boot my computer,it  boots to a blank (black) screen
> with an hourglass at the center >>
>
> Try running Msconfig.exe, click the Startup tab, and temporarily untick
ALL
> programs running at startup except Systray.
>
> Reboot and see if any improvement.  If not, get back into Windows if you
> can, check with Ctrl/Alt/Del to see if there's anything other than
Explorer
> and Systray running.  Try to disable anything else that might be trying to
> start at startup.  Also deactivate Active Desktop if you are running it.
>
> Is your computer by any chance a Compaq or HP?  Seems that these often
come
> with a whole lot of stuff configured to run at startup, including (Compaq)
> their own proprietary "Crash-proof" stuff, the main effect of which as far
> as I can see is, more often than not, to stuff up your computer.  One
would
> have to ask why Compaq feel it is necessary to include this in the first
> place.  At least, that seems to be the situation from what I've seen in
> this country (Australia).  May be different in yours.
>
> If all is now well, then you could add back those programs you really do
> want running all the time, one at a time, until you find the culprit.
>
> <<Sometimes it
> boots to a screen with a changed display settings(both the color and
screen
> area).I have to reset it>>
>
> That's normal.  When you go into Safe Mode, the computer opens in the
> lowest possible resolution, and that remains when you reboot, so you have
> to reset everything.  You can get a freeware utility like Ezydesk which
> will remember and restore all your desktop layout the way you had it.
>
> Don Penlington
>
>
>
> Visit my Web pages: http://www.geocities.com/donaldpen/
> Fractals, poetry, free icons and beautiful Queensland beaches.
>
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