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I have desktop pc with windows XP sp2 and I'm having trouble getting to the login screen. First let me say that I have rudementary knowledge, and by saying that I mean that you will really need to explain things like you are talking to a child. I have just enough tech know-how to really get myself into trouble.

SO I tried to login today and my pc locked up. I did a power down and upon restart it stayed on the Windows XP screen endlessly, so I powered down again. This time I got to the screen where it said that something WENT wrong and I needed to choose to either enter safe mode, safe mode with networking, safe mode with command prompt, start form last working config or start windows as normal.

None of these work. If I do as normal, I'm back at the endless Windows XP screen. If I try any of the others I get a full screen of this:

multi(6)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows32\drivers..... After the .... there's many different options on the screen, lots of different things but all have that text proceeding it.

I can't get to a command prompt to type in some of the things I've seen I need to try from various searches. I can't get to a safe mode to anything that way. I can't get to a login in any way shape or form.

So...my next step was booting from the windows disc. I tried this, and nothing happens at all. It's not reading the disc at all, so it's not sending me to a screen where I have a choice to reinstall windows or REPAIR, etc.

I'm not sure what other info you might need but PLEASE be detailed and handle me with kid gloves. Alot of things you might SUGGEST I might not fully understand so please be plain and specific and give me step by step directions.

MUCH Appreciated!!!!!All that text is Windows loading it's files in safemode...you have to be patient and let it finish loading.
On some machines if it hasn't been run in awhile it can take up to 7 or 8 minutes.I let it run for 30 min though, no CHANGES, same when I tried the other options and it sent me to the WIndowsXP logo screen and it just hung there. I've gone into safe mode before, never saw that text, nor the delay.


Here are my specs btw (this is a gaming rig, custom built, and runnign XP SP2 Home).

AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 Windsor 2.8GHz Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor Model ADAFX62CSBOX
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD400LJ 400GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
SONY 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write Black IDE Model DRU120C
EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP
CORSAIR XMS2 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400) Desktop Memory Model CM2X1024-5400C4 When loading safe mode, what is the last line of text displayed before XP stops loading?I'll check as soon as I get back to work and try the various options and give specifics. I don't remember though anything other than the full screen of text that I noted in my original post. The only other method I saw was it went to the WindowsXP loading screen (with the scrolling lines, that appears right before the login screen) and that just stays there endlessly too. I have NOT seen any error messages or a blue screen of any kind. The only thing I see now is initially it goes to the screen that tells me that something went wrong last time, and it gives the safe mode options, launch from last working config and as normal, so if that's what you are referring to, that's all I see. Otherwise, no blue screen or error codes, save the text I posted.

THX againI got into the BIOS, changed the order of the boot to optical first instead of HDD, and then tried to do a recovery with the disc. I typed R for repair and it sent me to a the recovery screen but ONLY gave me an option to type exit and restart, at which point I loaded to the screen that had safe mode and last working config options. I tried the config and now I'm on the eternal windows xp screen again. What did I do wrong. ?Ok tried this again and got to the point when I'm supposed to click Repair but instead there's a step ahead of it. It gives me the option to choose between 2 partitions I have. One is very tiny, only 8 mb. The other is huge. The only option from here is the install and I'm worried that this will overwrite and do a real install. I don't get a repair option like the steps suggest. What do do???

I tried to click enter for install but I got a warning that it will kill anything on that partition. I've never done a partition of any kind, so I'm baffled here anyway, but the next step for repairing isn't here, it takes me right to choosing a partition and then install, no repair
Choose the larger of the 2.
Using the repair option should bring up what's called the Recovery Console...which is a command prompt type window.
Type in fixboot and hit Enter.
Remove the XP CD and re-boot.
If it boots properly you have fixed your problem.

If it does not repeat the above procedure and once in the Recovery Console type in fixmbr and hit Enter....again remove the XP CD and re-boot.I was able to boot up and get to the repair with the XP cd inserted. I went through that process and then upon reboot, it tried to chkdsk, and kept getting hung up (which I imagine isn't good).

I then tried to bypass this phase and it did get me to a login. However, I locked up after some sluggish time trying to get SP2 back. I couldn't get to windows update and when I tried to run my virus scan, I saw it picked up some suspicious detections (I really don't think that is a major flag, I'm thinking actualy something to do with my HDD is the issue, but you never know). It locked up and I couldn't do anything. At this point I'm thinking of trying to retrieve the data from the HDD and just doing a clean install.

My problem here is, I don't know HOW to slave this drive to my alt pc (my wife's), never done it, and additionally, even if I did and I got the data transfered, if there ARE any viruses, won't I then corrupt her pc?