Windows 7 boot stuck on Welcome screen

[newportkiwi]

This problem started earlier today - windows restarted after an update and got stuck on the welcome screen following the reboot.

A few other pieces of information:

Safe mode does work.

I have restarted a number of times and twice windows got all the way to my desktop but promptly locked up.

I did not make any major changes to my system before the problem started (installs etc).​

So far I have tried:

System restore - a number of restore points going back as far as a week.

Startup repair

Windows memory diagnostic​

Does anyone have any advice? I'm starting to panic a little bit here (actually, a whole lot).

I am also not sure how to restore windows if I have to. I never got a disc with my laptop, and it has no optical drive. There is also no recovery partition to access.

UPDATE: Not sure what I did, but now safe mode doesn't work either. Stuck on: Loading Windows Files, please wait...

 

[usasma]

I suggest starting all troubleshooting with the following diagnostic tests. They'll save you a lot of time and heartache if there is a hardware failure, and you'll have the disks on hand in case you need them in the future:

H/W Diagnostics:
Please start by running these bootable hardware diagnostics:
Memory Diagnostics (read the details at the link)
HD Diagnostic (read the details at the link)

Also, please run one of these free, independent online malware scans to ensure that your current protection hasn't been compromised: Malware (read the details at the link)

If Startup Repair or System Restore doesn't fix it, then you're looking at needing recovery disks. If you didn't make them when you go your computer, you'll have to contact Asus for a set: Order Recovery Discs (USA)

 

[newportkiwi]

Hey Usasma, thanks for the advice. Thats saved for future reference.

I actually managed to get the problem sorted. It appears Norton Internet Security was the problem. I finally got safe mode going, uninstalled Norton and it rebooted fine in normal mode. Reinstalling Nortons brought the problem back again.

I spent 5 hours with Nortons online help trying to find the conflict but I eventually gave up and installed Kaspersky. Norton were great though - very helpful and they tried hard.

Warning heeded - restore images have been made, just in case.