Problem going into Windows

[Martyuk39]

It's a system very similar to mine:
Antec Sonata I
Athlon 3400
Asus K8VSE Deluxe
2xCrucial standard 512MB 3200 memory
Maxtor Sata 250GB hard drive
Sparkle Geforce 6200 - this has no fan but the heatsink is cool to the touch
Sony CD rewriter
Mitsumi Floppy/card reader combo

I re-installed Windows yesterday and that seemed to go OK. Started to put software on, seemed OK. Resumed today, and at the time the problem started I was downloading Windows Updates, nothing else. Now the only way to get into Windows is to start up in safe mode, then reboot, then it'll start up OK. It's definitely taking longer to get into Windows than my system (identical except I have a 6600 gfx card but only an Athlon 3000). And once in Windows it'll suddenly reboot - get black screen, then have to go into safe mode, etc. I've got the mobo drivers from the Asus site as at Jan 2006 (didn't install the IDE drivers), and the latest Nvidia drivers for the card. Not sure what BIOS I've got - currently running memtest (nearly completed 1 pass, no errors). I'd appreciate any thoughts
Thanks

 

[deathwalker]

I have seen reports of bad system behavior due to a failed windows update operation. Perhaps you may want to try an F8 boot and select the last known good configuration option or using your xp installation disk to a Repair reinstall of the OS.

 

[Martyuk39]

Thanks - went into last known good, started off OK and I've resumed Windows Update. So far so good, although it's only been about 20 minutes