When I attempt to load up skyrim I get stuck on the screen with the dragon logo and nothing else moves. I've waited for 10 minutes and nothing happened:( What can I do?

Are you loading any plugins other than Skyrim.ESM and Update.ESM? Is Update.ESM's modified date later than that of Skyrim.ESM? Has the game previously run without this issue on the same rig configured as it currently is?

If this is the first time that you tried the game on that particular PC, let's start with basics, and eliminate any possible hardware conflicts here:

Basic Hardware Specification Chart (Empty so far)

Processor Manufacturer: AMD / Intel
Processor Name / Type: Athlon X2 / Pentium D / C2D / dual core / quad, etc.
Processor Speed: ?.? Ghz
Operating System / Service Pack: WindowsXP with SP #?, Win7, Vista ?
System RAM: ? ? GBs (MBs, if less than 1024 ? )
Video (GPU) Manufacturer: ATI / Nvidia (only those two are supported, PERIOD, so please answer which of them you have)
Video Card Model: (examples) Radeon HD 6670 / Geforce GTS 450
Video Card Driver Version: Catalyst ?.? / Nforce ??.??
. . (please use the numbers, and dates, *not* the word "latest")
Video display's default screen resolution
Video Card onboard RAM: ? ? ? MBs
Sound Card Manufacturer:
Sound Card Driver IDs:
Sound Card Model:

(And this is only for the raw hardware & driver variations. Potential software conflicts are far more likely to be game play problems, and developers cannot test for all possible program loads.)

Fill out the blanks in the template Gorath provided.

Someone asked if you were running any mods, so check to see if you did. Also, did you alter .ini files in any way?

I have same problem. Did not alter ini. files, and the form is like this:

Processor Manufacturer: Intel
Processor Name / Type: i7 2600
Processor Speed: 3.4 Ghz
Operating System / Service Pack: Win 7 service pak 1
System RAM: 8 GBs (MBs, if less than 1024 ? )
Video (GPU) Manufacturer:Nvidia geforce 580
Video Card Model: geforce 580
Video Card Driver Version: Nforce 290.36
Video display's default screen resolution: no idea
Video Card onboard RAM: 1598 MBs
Sound Card Manufacturer:
Sound Card Driver IDs:
Sound Card Model:

also, did not have any mods. plz help.

I have found the problem. it seems that the pauses have something to do with anti ailiasing and ainsotropic filering. it looks like the higher you put those vairiables, the more likely it will freeze on you.

Please don't misunderstand me. I still want this problem fixed, i was just pointing out what it is caused by. I mean, I just bought an Alienware PC and it worked fine for a little while, but then when i reinstalled it cause of some mods i installed wrong, it just keeps freezing for no reason.
Please help me. Please.

I think those Nvidia drivers may have SSAO enabled. Make sure it's forced off in the Nvidia Control Panel for the Skyrim profile.

But personally I can't use 8xAA myself, even with the "AntiFreeze" patch here -- http://enbdev.com/download_en.htm (note that I freeze much sooner without it), and I have comparable specs to yours.

If you have an Nvidia EVGA card, EVGA Precision has been known to cause issues also.