I had to register and reply to this thread since this is a problem I have just encountered and have never seen before. Ive been a computer technician for 3 years so I was surprised to find a problem I couldnt fix. Here are some details to what exactly happens:1. Upon booting the computer everything runs fine (but slow, extremely slow) till you approach the welcome screen. The second you press any key on your keyboard the screen APPEARS to freeze. Heres what got me, the mouse freezes, but the blinking line for text input continues to blink. In addition, pressing the power button will shutdown the computer. Any previous instances when Ive encountered a FROZEN computer, simply pressing the power button fails to shutdown. You have to hold the button in order to perform an emergency shutdown.2. It is possible to boot into safemode, probably just as simple to login so long as you do not have to type. However, the second you press ANY KEY, it "freezes".3. I was able to use the On Screen Keyboard provided by Microsoft and downloaded HijackThis, along with some misc. antiviral and spyware programs. HijackThis presented some confusing programs and I accordingly removed them from startup and any BHO's I was concerned with. Upon rebooting, it froze.4. The keyboard was plugged into the PS2 slot, so I tried a USB keyboard...since it requires drivers it was not registering at the Welcome screen. So I tried another PS2 keyboard, same result.At this point I believe it is necessary to format and reinstall, but I am so perplexed by this dilemna, what is causing the screen to either appear frozen, or actually freeze? Since no programs load by the Welcome screen, I believe it is a hardware problem. Someone mentioned overclocking and that could definitely be a cause. Improper ventilation may cause section of the computer to shutdown and/or become inoperative. Either way, since this is the #1 result on Google, I just wanted to put in my 2 cents and recommend a format/reinstalltion of the OS. Since I have yet to do it myself to see if the problem persists, it may be useless and you may need a new computer at this point.-Armyguy
