Windows 8 Toshiba Laptop Only Run In Safe Mode - Critical Process Died

System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 8 Pro, 32 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T5300 @ 1.73GHz, x64 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 2
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 3318 Mb
Graphics Card: Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM 1.0), 256 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 112968 MB, Free - 96409 MB; E: Total - 1907726 MB, Free - 764957 MB;
Motherboard: Intel Corporation, CAPELL VALLEY(NAPA) CRB
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Disabled

My Toshiba laptop with Windows 8 won't run unless it's in Safe Mode. I don't know exactly how or when it started, but it completely freezes shortly after boot. Exactly when it freezes varies, but it's usually within the first 5 minutes. And by freezing, I mean it's 100% nonfunctional. The only way to shut down is by removing the battery, so now I just keep it out.

At this point I won't list all the things I've tried, or tell you all about my computer and OS. The crashing happens in a variety of ways, but the end result is always the same. I will hear a click sound through the speakers and simultaneously see a flicker on the display. At that point I will instantly know I'm screwed. Then within 1 to 5 seconds the HDD light on the computer will stop blinking and stay on solid, and my only choice is to unplug the power. It usually happens in one of the following ways, listed in order of likelihood, with the most likely first:

1) I get the BSOD with the error, CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED.
2) My display freaks out, and turns into a jumbled up screen of glorious animated visual static. (I have a picture on my phone, if it comes to that.)
3) I get the BSOD with the error, REFERENCE_BY_POINTER.
4) No apparent crash, but one keystroke or mouse click will take 20 to 30 minutes to be carried out. During this time, Task Manager says HDD is working at 99 or 100%, even though the computer is idle. Sometimes I'm able to move the mouse pointer, other times I'm not.
5) I get the BSOD, with an error that I can't really make out. If I was forced to guess, I'd say it looked something like "x0x000000x".
6) I get a blue screen with a message telling me the computer was improperly shut down, and needs to restart after it collects data. Along with this is a progress report that never moves from 0%.

The last thing I tried was to reinstall Windows, keeping nothing. Now it seems my only available choice is to go through the hundreds of processes and services individually, turning them on and off, one at a time until I find the culprit, the way I had to individually download all of the 107 updates required in order for me to attempt upgrading to Windows 8.1 (unsuccessfully). The stuff I found in the Event Viewer didn't really seem to work, but I'll probably go back to it and research events more thoroughly before I start disabling things. I hope to avoid this.

I don't know if this is a clue or not, but in Device Manager my Generic PnP Monitor has an exclamation point by it, but Windows says the driver is up to date, and I can't figure out why why I'm getting the alarm.