Window XP Dead Won't Load

I turned on my pc this morning can't get into Windows XP Pro? The pc was fine yesterday and shut down normally. The boot up was fine this morning and then just went dead -- no windows splash screen, no cursor blinking. I tried Safe Mode and it started loading drivers and then just stopped. When I did 'Safe Mode with Command Prompt' I was able to see the Windows directory. I tried 'Last Known Good Configuration' and again it went dead on me. Does anyone have ideas? All welcome and thanks for the help.

Go back into safe mode with networking. Download, update & run anti malware from malwarebytes.org

Thanks for the fast reply. I got the same problem with 'safe mode with networking', starts to load and then stops dead. It runs the kernel, some dlls, config\system, several nls files and stops after FONTS'\' vgaoem.fon? I have malwarebytes on the machine and run it all the time. I ran a full check with Avast! yesterday and malwarebytes two days ago.

You could be having a driver issue although typically even a driver conflict would let you boot into safe mode. If it's a driver issue a repair install of your XP should fix the problem. I would save that as a last recourse.

I've noticed a lot of machines lately with that kind of issue are often infected with rootkits or viruses that alter the Master Boot Record (MBR) and corrupt drivers that load when windows loads (atapi.sys as an example), and I just spent 3 work days cleaning an infection with probably the most advanced rootkit in the wild right now called TDL3 (a.k.a. Alaureon). That was one tough rootkit to get rid of.

One thing you could attempt is a bootable antivirus CD. Follow the instructions here http://www.avg.com/us-en/226386

See if that gives you any success.

Download the HD manufacturer's diagnostic tools on another PC. Burn the CD & boot the problem PC with it. Check for bad blocks.

I put the hard drive into an external case and connected it to another computer. I changed the jumper to slave and tried to take a look at it. The pc see's the external USB Drive case, but doesn't see the hard drive. I double checked all the connections. I'm thinking it is dead.

When you use a USB enclosure, the jumpers have nothing to do with it. They are used when the drive is connected to the ribbon cable, inside the box.

Thanks for the Disk Management tip. The drive didn't show up because of a drive letter 'collision'. I have it hooked up to a Windows 7 pc so was able to reassign the letter. I am running a disk check now. We'll see what turns up.