Windows 2000 Freezes at startup screen

Troubleshoot areas,to see if it is an IRQ issue.

DisablE ACPI card bus's use both PCMCIA slots,check all system devices

(IMHO, ACPI really slows things down). The only down side is that you lose the power-down/sleep features.

Also try disabling the ant-virus and see if the freezes stop,you can always enable the virus to see if the freezes start up again,then you could rule out anti-virus

Update to lastest service pack

The fact that you are able to boot to Safe Mode without any problem suggests that the cause of the problem might be due to corrupted drivers, programs, or services that are being loaded. It is not likely hardware are causing the problem.

Options:

1. Disable ALL startup programs, not just a few. The best way to do this is to use ?MSCONFIG?. If you do not have the command already, copy it from Windows 98, 98SE, ME, or XP, and paste it to C:\Windows (or Winnt)\system32 folder. If this resolves the problem, enable/disable half the programs at a time to find the culprit(s).

2. Install Spyware/Adware removal programs such as Ad-Aware 6.0 and Spybot S&D and remove any spyware/adware. Scan for virus and remove any that were found.

Backup data and settings before you do next.

3. I assume your computer came with Recovery CD(s). Most offer Factory setting of drivers and programs without formatting. Do it.

4. Use the Recovery CD option that formats the hard drive. All data will be lost. Any program you installed must be reinstalled.

Reference: MS KB Article 281770 on How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 2000 (or tinyurl.com/3bwsh)

There is no easy way to resolve this kind of problem.

Good luck

Are your service packs current? Try this website it has lot's of reasons for this issue:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?InCC_hdn=true&Catalog=LCID%3D1033%26CDID%3DEN-US-KB%26PRODLISTSRC%3DON&withinResults=&QuerySource=gASr_Query&Product=win2000&Queryc=windows+startup+hangs+&Query=windows+startup+hangs+&KeywordType=ALL&maxResults=25&Titles=false&numDays=&InCC=on

sounds like a corrupted driver which failed to initialize a pc component, like it's having trouble initializing a driver or piece of hardware

try swapping out the video card, and remove any other cards (NIC, modem, sound card, etc) to check

Tried booting to safe mode and delete items in temporary internet folder ? chkdsk/r (repair)? Running Defrag ?

Check the BOOT.LOG file and see where it is stopping. Or enable it so you can see where it has a problem.