Windows XP won't start

Hi there,

This problem started occurring a couple of days ago. The previous shutdown was a proper one, there had been no error messages and the computer hadn't frozen.

Whenever I start my computer, it gets to the screen displaying the Windows XP logo and stays there. I'm sure you know the one I mean but just to clarify, it's the one preceeding where you click on a username to access Windows. I have to unplug the computer, plug it in again and then run Windows in 'safe mode with networking' when prompted at startup (after the obvious improper shutdown is detected).

I've tried going to system restore and going back a couple of restore points to when the computer was working as normal, but this hasn't worked. A friend suggested that a virus may have attached itself to my startup routine.

I'm using Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 Version 2002. The computer is 1.41 GHz with 256 MB of RAM.

Anyone know how to fix this? Any help is much appreciated, thanks in advance,
Sean.