vista will not finish startup

[donr09]

My laptop with Vista has just gone nuts. It will not boot except in safe mode. When trying to boot in normal mode, it will not finish the boot and when I try to execute an action with a mouse click the screen will dim(actually turn a soft white). I have restored to a different restore point and did get it to boot up normally a few weeks back, but that was the last time it was up. I have installed service pack 1 on the lap top. Not sure what else to try.
Very frustrated with Vista.
Any ideas?

Thanks
Don

[chizy2]

What was installed prior to this? You said you did a restore to a prior point and it worked fine. Something is getting installed after that point(or corrupted).

[donr09]

There was nothing installed. I use this particular laptop without adding a lot to it. It does the updates for windows and virus protection and that is all. It does have service pack 1 for vista and that would be the latest system update. So, that is why I am stumped. I have checked basic log files and cannot see anything going on.
Just plain stumped on this OS.

[Cyber Punk]

Hi, please tell me the specs. of this computer.
Also, do you have a lot of startup programs?
If so, disabling them may help you boot into Normal mode.