Strange behaviour with Windows XP lately...

This is the second computer with the same symptom: it started to fail booting up (black screen in a normal boot, working as expected in failsafe mode). This is windows XP but I have other stuff to do than debugging this, and of course the symptoms are the same if you try to re-install from scratch, which is more strange.

A GNU/Linux system (Mandriva or any other I tested) boots fine and works like a charm, and Windows Vista or Seven installs and works fine also... This eliminates any hardware problem (my first suspects were the graphic card and/or memory but both work as expected).

Is there any specific setup needed for XP, a virus made for banning the remaining XP installations since there is no more support for it from Microsoft?

I cannot imagine there is such problem from Microsoft, but who knows?

Is there anyone encountering the same symptoms?

If you have any hint, please let me know.

Update (14/02/2011) :

I have also tried to:

 reset BIOS settings to the default factory (this was my first test)
 Install/uninstall ATI drivers (thanks revo uninstaller which enables to uninstall stuff even in safe mode -> http://www.clubic.com/telecharger-fiche39528-revouninstaller.html)
 Use an anti-adware program
 Install a new antivirus (Symantec) instead of Clamwin
 Install the fix for Windows Shell (http://www.prevx.com/blog/140/Black-Screen-woes-could-affect-millions-on-Windows--Vista-and-XP.html)
 Install an anti-malware (http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html)
 perform all Windows updates
 do a memory check (no problem so far)
 Install Vista instead of XP...

But the problem persists :-)

Thanks to Misc and Ric who gave me good hints but it seems I’m going to have another bunch of tests to get it working again (sadly I cannot use Mandriva-only setup on this computer...).

My best guess for now is the mainboard battery, since the computer is 6-years old...

Stay tuned.

Remark:

A quick search on "Black Screen Of Death" triggers a lot of web sites, not everything presents the same symptoms as I do, but it seems I’m not alone (in the dark screen :-)

Update (21/02/2011) :

I finally came out on this:
 installed Vista instead of XP
 cleaned out all the dust inside (since the graphic card fan was full of dust this is my main culprit)
 changed the bios battery (and yes, I tried to reset to defaults, change values, etc)
 performed a disk check inside windows without any error
 performed a memory check again using memtest without any error too

The computer seems now back to normal, and most programs are back on it, all are legal and / or free software, of course.

In the end Microsoft is probably not pushing users to upgrade, but in the end it seems newer releases (Vista and above) are less "sensitive" to some temporary hardware problems (dust). I really hope I’m done with thi