yourbrighteyes said:
Hi Curt
Thanks for replying,
Okay, so when I do choose the option of Safe Mode, it does this thing
(pardon my inability to be more technical) when it seems like a whole list
of
command prompts pop up, and then after a little while, it just restarts
again
and takes me back to the same screen.
Sara:
It's really difficult, if not impossible, to tell at this point whether the
problem you're experiencing is due to either a hardware or software issue.
I'm thinking that probably the wisest course of action you could undertake
at this point would be to perform a Repair install of the XP operating
system for which you will need your XP installation CD. Now in order to
undertake this Repair install of the operating system (which I'll tell you a
bit about below) you will need an XP installation CD that is a "full" CD,
not an OEM-branded recovery disk,. Unfortunately many users who have a
OEM-branded PC do not have this "full" XP installation CD and therefore
cannot run the Repair install that I'm going to describe. So it's possible
you may fall into this latter category.
Anyway, assuming you are able to run this Repair install of the OS, the
process of doing so is relatively straightforward and not at all difficult.
It would be roughly akin to making a fresh install of the OS, but in nearly
every case your existing programs & user-created data would be retained.
While it would be a rather rare situation where data would be lost or
corrupted as a result of the Repair install (even if such was unsuccessful),
and as unlikely as it may be, it *could* happen. I mention this because if
there is any data on your HDD that is absolutely crucial to you and which
you could not tolerate its loss, then you should *not* undertake the Repair
install at this point, but rather first attempt to access and copy that data
through other means, for example, by installing the disk in another machine
as a secondary drive.
There are a number of websites that contain step-by-step instructions for
undertaking a Repair install. As I've previously indicated the process is
not at all difficult and not terribly time-consuming. If you do a Google
search on "XP repair install", you'll be pointed to many of these sites.
Here are a few...
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm#RI
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=138
Assuming the Repair install is successful, you should use your anti-virus
and/or any other anti-malware program that you use to immediately check out
your PC for any virus infestation. Also, you will need to download/install
*all* the MS critical updates since SP2. (I'm assuming that if you do
undertake the Repair install, you will be doing so with a XP CD that
contains SP2). One of the (unavoidable) downsides re undertaking a Repair
install is that it's usually an onerous task to download all the Critical
Updates from MS especially if you're using a dialup phone connection rather
than broadband.
Needless to say, there's no guarantee that the Repair install will be
successful since there may be problems present - hardware or software -
other than a mildly-corrupted OS that a Repair install will generally
correct. But it seems to me that based upon your initial description of the
problem it's certainly worth a try at this point.
Anna