START UP PROBLEM

Any help would be appreciated. Sony VAIO, Windows XP, totally clear McAfee security, technologically challened owner. Last nite my computer took a long time to turn off. Today, as it is booting up, when it gets to the point where the screen says "windows is starting up", it cuts itself off and tries to boot again. If anyone can tell me how to get this thing ot come on, I can go from there, maybe. Thanks so much for any help.

Fairly long list to deal with here, because the information and request provides relatively little information.
It would be helpful if you could describe events and changes leading up to your machine's difficulty.
For instance: New hardware?, New programs or updates installed? First time the problem has appeared, or previous/random or regular events? Amount of Free Space on your Hard Drive? Recent large downloads?Programs and processes active at StartUp? sounds, smells, heat, noticed at time of problem? Sony Vaio may be a Desktop or a Laptop, which is it? How much RAM? Indexing Service on/off? Virtual Memory status? How many User Accounts? Primary use of machine (e.g. primarily a game machine?, primarily office utility and light web-browsing?, remote access to and from work network?)

Boot and Shutdown may occur for a huge number or reasons.
I'll take a few steps with you, but will definitely need more information to focus in on the problem.

Slow Boot and Shutdown may occur due to "nearly full" (less than 10% free space) hard drive, because opening and closing of applications and processes require quite a bit of space to temporarily accomplish read/write functions as the program is readied, or as the program product is saved and the program utility is put back into storage on the Hard Drive.

Slow Boot and Shutdown can be caused by Malware.
Even though you've got a clean McAfee scan, run some spyware scans and a few online scans:
Spybot Search & Destroy version 1.4
Housecall at www.housecall.trendmicro.com
Panda at www.pandasoftware.com/activescan
Ewido at http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

Slow Boot and Shutdown can be caused by Missing or Corruped Operating System Files
Run your System File Checker
Start - Run - (type) sfc /scannow
(have your Windows installation CD handy for replacement of files as necessary

Slow Boot and Shutdown may be caused by various hardware failures including RAM, CPU and Power Supply.

Slow Boot and Shutdown may be caused by various corruption of Device Drivers.
Check in you Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager for any yellow or red warnings.

Check your Event Viewer for Error information.
Here's a brief information article about using Event Viewer:
http://www.winxptutor.com/eventlog.htm

Please reply with information you may be able to gather by investigating the above lines of inquiry.

Best Regards

Dough, Thanks so much for the reply. Since I can't turn my computer on, I can't give you some of the specifics, but I will give you as much as I can. No new hardware No new programs First time problem Don't know the exact amount of free space, but it's alot, 93% empty. No large downloads Not sure of all the programs active at startup except McAfee. No IM's or other things like that. No heat or smells at time of problem. Computer is 19 months old. Desk top 1GB RAM, 3.5 Pentium, 250GB Hard drive (only 7% in use) I don't know what Indexing Service is. I'm not sure about the virtual memory since I can't get in to it. Just 1 user Primary use graphics design, home office and web browsing No remote access Ran the panda and spybot and adaware on Monday evening and all was clear then. But I can't run them now becasue I can't get the computer to come on. The only problem I have had is that about 2 months ago I bought a new Kodak digital camera. The EasyShare software needed to download the pictures from it has a "check for updates" that may come on at any time and maybe 10 times a day. When it does it freezes the computer no matter what you are doing until you use the task manager to turn it off. (the updater) Can't run the system file checker becasue I can't get windows to start up. Can't get to the control panel to check the device manager. Can't get to the event viewer The only precursor to this problem was that it took a good 5 or 6 minutes for the computer to shut down the last time it was turned off. Maybe not shutting down properly has something to do with it. Also, when I try to tap F8 to get it to start in "safe mode" it does not respond to that command at all. Again, when you turn it on, it goes through it's regular start up and gets to the point where the screed comes up that says" Windows is starting up" and immediately shuts down and tries to reboot. ANYTHING you can do to help me get Windows to come on would be greatly appreciated. Then maybe we can look for the problem.

Anybody got any ideas????

Please consider replacing the CMOS battery. (about $2.50 at any electronics store) Please consider opening the case and use a can of compressed air to thoroughly clean out any dust-bunnies, especially at the CPU Heatsink, at air intakes in the front and exits at the back, and blowing into the PSU to clear it out without opening the PSU. Consider starting at the very basic. Remove all PCI cards, leaving only Video Card and one stick of RAM. If you are comfortable with doing so, consider unpluggine power and IDE to either/both CD/DVD units. Boot it up, and let us know if you get a successful boot. Best Regards