Computer freezing at start up

Recently I uninstalled my virus scanner (Avast) to install a different one (Sophos). As soon as i uninstalled Avast and restarted my computer, I ran into an extremely frustrating problem

My computer would boot up like normal, and in about 60 seconds it would freeze. My mouse would stop moving and all keyboard strokes no longer register

Could someone please help me identify the problem? I can't even get to the events viewer because when I'm about to get there, my computer freezes. I must've restarted it about 30 times

PLEASE help

 

Can you restart in Safe Mode? If not, try using a Windows disc to repair the installation.

 

yes i can restart in safe mode. but now what

 

If it doesn't lock up in Safe Mode you can do lots of things. Check MSCONFIG for any startup items or services left over from Avast. Run CCleaner to clean temp files and the registry, if you have a backup in place. Use the command prompt to run sfc /scannow.

 

i've booted it in safe mode, i've run ccleaner, cleaned the temp files and registry, and looked into the event viewer

it doesn't show any error in applications or system tab.

are there any other things i can do in safe mode that could potentially bring my computer back to life?

 

Go into the command prompt and type in "sfc /scannow" (without quotes). Let it check your system files. If it finds a corrupt file it may ask for your Windows install disc to replace the file.

Otherwise, as tedious as it sounds, you could go into msconfig while in Safe Mode, and go through your startup list and remove most items. If you can boot regularly, then start re-adding items. Check the services list too. If it locks up when booting it could be a bad service.

 

i removed everything from my startup and services list and i still freeze. what could that possibly mean?

 

Can you do a system restore?

 

tried it, and every checkpoint going up to the past month does not work. tried it in safe mode as well

edit - i noticed that it only works in regular safe mode. if i run it in safe mode with networking, it freezes up as usual. what could the problem be here?

 

Could it be the network card driver? Try going into Safe Mode, uninstalling the network card (If you have wireless, uninstall that one too) and reboot into Vista. If it does not freeze, then you should be able to download new drivers from another machine and transfer them. That should get you up and running again...if that's the problem.

 

In safe mode:
1. Go to control panel>administrative tools>services and see if there are any services related to Avast. Careful to read each entry as the name may be something crazy and not clearly related to Avast.

If you find any double click on it. It the resulting window click Stop and change the drop down box to disabled.

2. Download a program called RegCool from majorgeeks.com. It's a free registry editor, but does a better job at searching than the one build into Windows.

Search the registry for Avast and delete any references

3. If neither of those work you have a bigger problem. System File Check - sfc /scannow - may help depending on how Avast hooks into the system to check http traffic. If SFC doesn't work you will have to do a repair installation or start from scratch.

Another good example where a good backup drive image would save your bacon!

 

This is just a very off-the-cuff speculation, but if it works o.k. in safe-mode without networking, but freezes up in safe-mode with networking, it might be that Avast didn't properly disengage itself from the firewall when it was uninstalled. Again, I don't have an example to look at to give any directions, but once you're in safe-mode sans networking, check your firewall settings and registry entries to see if there's anything that looks Avast-related.