On startup, the system boots normally until after the progress image/bar and the system simply stalls and I get nothing but a black screen. Sometimes I get a notification that Ckkdsk needs to run due to a problem with one of the discs, which is either C: or F: (simple storage disk with no OS on it). After Chkdsk runs it will boot fine. But lately, the Chkdsk notification doesn't appear. I tried booting with my Vista installation disc in order to use the Repair utility, but that failed. It started fine loading files but then only a blank splash screen appears and it stalls. I then tried to use a partition emergency disc on boot which did load and I was able to view the "Properties" of the disc and enable the option to run Chkdsk and repair any errors if found. It ran successfully and then the system would boot. However, things have progressed to the point that even that didn't work, i.e., the system would just stall after the progress bar image displayed.
Finally, I was able to run my Acronis emergency disc and restore the previous days backup. It said it was successful, but when I tried to boot the system afterward, it stalled again. I let it sit for 3 hours with nothing but the blank black screen and the login window did appear. I typed in my login and password and it finally booted into Windows.
I've run two hardrive diagnotics; Western Digital and Seagate on the main HD and both times it passed without any errors. Eset Smart Security returns a clean bill of health too.
Soooooo, any ideas on what might be causing this issue?
