# Strang XP Problem
**URL:** https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946
**Category:** NYSpeed Off Topic
**Created:** [February 8, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946 "2006-02-08T20:45:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@walter](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/walter)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/1 "2006-02-08T20:45:03Z")
So I thought I’d throw together the old PC, grabbed a HD out of another box and threw it in my old machine. Formatted it and threw on a fresh copy of XP SP2, got through the install (took foooorever) and when it started up XP, I’d log in, but for some reason it would just be a blue screen.
I could ctrl-alt-del and get the task manager and log out and stuff, but that’s about it.
any ideas?
ill retry tomorrow, just curious if anyone had seen this
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### Author:  [@Locutus](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Locutus)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/2 "2006-02-08T20:48:17Z")
when you log in for first time in xp the ntuser.dat and other user files are being created… that usually makes it hang for a few seconds (maybe 20 at most)
maybe cus its an older pc its taking longer…
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### Author:  [@Bacon](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Bacon)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/3 "2006-02-08T21:39:51Z")
Just out of curiosity, what are the specs on this machine?
And seeing as you can get the the task manager, see if you can manually start explorer.exe
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### Author:  [@Vile](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Vile)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/4 "2006-02-08T21:40:59Z")
test hd?
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### Author:  [@Daddie](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Daddie)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2006, 7:44am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/5 "2006-02-09T07:44:59Z")
DMA issues possibly (slow install)
What kinda drive is it?
What HDD controller is onboard the mobo?
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### Author:  [@walter](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/walter)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2006, 8:19am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/6 "2006-02-09T08:19:28Z")
It’s at home, but IIRC, Maxtor HD\< SATA 133, 20G.
Machine is a P3 450, 512MB
I thought I was running SP2 on it before I got my new computer…
Elaborate on DMA issues? I just used junk cables I found in the closet, I do have a RAID controller sitting around too for some reason that I was using in that box originally, but not with this HD.
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### Author:  [@RuBiCaNT](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/RuBiCaNT)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2006, 8:38am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/7 "2006-02-09T08:38:03Z")
> [@walter](#):
>
> It’s at home, but IIRC, Maxtor HD\< SATA 133, 20G.
>
> Machine is a P3 450, 512MB
>
> I thought I was running SP2 on it before I got my new computer…
>
> Elaborate on DMA issues? I just used junk cables I found in the closet, I do have a RAID controller sitting around too for some reason that I was using in that box originally, but not with this HD.
Maxtor probably had HD utils that you can throw on a floppy and see if the drive integrity is still intact. That would be my first step. Do you get HD activity and all that when the blue screen pops up or is there nothing? If the HD tools don’t show or yield anything, boot in to safe mode and go from there…
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### Author:  [@BuickGN](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/BuickGN)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2006, 9:36am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/8 "2006-02-09T09:36:52Z")
do u get a blank screen or is the taskbar there?
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### Author:  [@Daddie](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Daddie)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2006, 9:48am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/9 "2006-02-09T09:48:53Z")
I bet his taskbar isn’t there.
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### Author:  [@BuickGN](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/BuickGN)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2006, 10:16am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/10 "2006-02-09T10:16:04Z")
xp loves to load with no icons setup, pisses me off to no end.
wondering if thats what it is.
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### Author:  [@walter](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/walter)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/11 "2006-02-09T17:55:53Z")
no taskbar.
I’m going to try a fresh copy of XP, off a diff CD\> I had a few errors durring the install that I"m attributing this to. And I lied, it’s a Maxtor FIreball 3 ATA/133
Does anyone have a good torrent for one fo the light versions of XP?
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### Author:  [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/12 "2006-02-09T18:25:43Z")
i got a corporate version of xp pro, works great and doesnt require activation, search [torrentz.com](http://torrentz.com) for it
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### Author:  [@walter](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/walter)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/strang-xp-problem/7946/13 "2006-02-09T18:37:51Z")
I have a MSDN SN, I don’t need to activate anything.
I got a barelynaked version of XP Pro, we’ll see how that works out