This XP-Pro SP3 system tries to start, but will not proceed. It stalls with an hourglass in the tray at the bottom of the screen. As the system tries to start, it displays the proper desktop icons, bottom tray icons, plays the startup music, shows the clock and AVG Anti-virus, etc. Windows task manager responds to display its window with no applications listed. The performance tab shows 1 to 3 % CPU usage and 696 MB of PF usage. None of the icons on the desktop, nor the "Start" control (bottom left of screen) will respond. Attempting to click on "Start" or any of the desktop icons results in a total lockup and need to re-power the hardware. The machine that used to start normally has now failed to start after hours of trying to re-power and re-start. The hourglass in the bottom tray remains. There are no error messages.On using Windows Task Manager and "Shut down" there is a small window displayed that says "Ending program - explorer.exe" When this times out the title changes to "End Program - explorer.exe" with the message "The program is not responding."1 person needs an answerI do too

This could be caused by software (malware infection, bad drivers, problematic program starting with Windows) or hardware and there is no way to tell from here which it might be based on what you've written.Start by going into Safe Mode to see if the behavior is the same. If it isn't, then probably the issue is caused by software. In that case begin troubleshooting by doing thorough scanning for malware. Don't skip the preparatory steps:http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_MalwareIf the computer proves virus/malware-free but the problem persists, do clean-boot troubleshooting.How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560The free Autoruns program is very useful for managing your Startup -http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspxClean boot in Windows XP -http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353Clean-boot advanced troubleshooting in Windows XP -http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434Post back with answers, more details about your computer (make/model, approximate age, recent history, etc.), and the results of the above troubleshooting if we need to go further.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

Apparently this is caused by problems with wuauclt.exe - - which have been reported elsewhere.