Folks, when start up the computer, it freezes shortly after the desktop wallpaper comes up. I see no icons yet in the system tray. The CPU was humming along nicely with zero problems, and I added nothing new in weeks. I have removed most of the programs (other than Micro$oft stuff and the anti-virus), and it still freezes. The only thing I can't remove is my HP OfficeJet software. When in safe mode, it states that I cannot do it in safe mode! Well, I can't boot normally to get rid of the possibly offending software. I even tried the CD, but that too states that safe mode is not good enough. I can, though, boot up in safe mode and safe mode with networking with zero freezes. 1) How can I get rid of the Printer driver? 2) Is there some other troubleshooting method I can employ to zero in on the offending .dll/program/process/whatever? 3) If I have to reinstall XP (I will do it clean), will it trash my harddisc? I have a dual boot XP/Linux (SuSE) harddisc and I'm afraid that if I do a clean install it will trash my OS loader. Thanks in advance, - W

Steps to Manually Remove and Reinstall a Printer Driver http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;135406 --------------------- How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

As an update, doing some troubleshooting, I got these two weird messages in the Event Viewer->Application: Detection of product '{82DFB852-9594-4668-9C66-28BB6E94BCB2}', feature 'Solar10' failed during request for component '{CF614B89-6C85-4D08-A60C-DB6A46395215}' Detection of product '{82DFB852-9594-4668-9C66-28BB6E94BCB2}', feature 'Banzai10' failed during request for component '{B43505FE-D246-4BD4-893C-EFB2CAF80C70}' What the hell are these? Virii, ad-ware, trojan horses? They came up as warnings and the source was MsiInstaller!? - Wookie