Okay, so I still have a Dell XPS 410 with Windows XP. For no discernible reason (no new hardware or software recently and I haven't been playing with settings lately) the area around the on-screen mouse turned blue for a brief time before the whole computer finally shut down. Now, every time I try to turn the machine on there are blue dots during the startup and before I get to the desktop the monitor goes into powersave mode (though the tower remains powered up). The same thing happens when I switch monitors.

I am able to interrupt the startup and begin in safe mode. Unfortunately, I don't know how to fix the problem from there.

In the Event Viewer application I'm getting the following error:

---The following boot-start or system-start drivers failed to load: Aavmker4, AFD, aswSP, aswTdi, avgio, avipbb, Fips, intelppm, IPSec, MRxSmb, NetBIOS, NetBT, RasAcd, Rdbss, ssmdrv, Tcpip. (these errors are occurring because "a device attached to the system is not functioning.")

Any advice?

Have you tried last known good configuration boot yet?

Have you tried last known good configuration boot yet?

Yes, but the result is the same.

Someone suggested I try removing my network card and other nonessential hardware. This didn't help either. Might it be my video card?

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.