Michelle wrote:
> Thank you Peter but uninstalling mcafee did not work. What I forgot to
> mention though is that there were 3 power outages in this month and 3 times
> the pc was not shut down using windows. So the pc was restarted manually.
> Hope someone can help with this.
I'm not Peter and I hope he doesn't mind my popping in. The information
about power outages was crucial. Because you had three of them and three
times Windows was not shut down properly, there is a high probability
that you have corrupted files.
1. If you have forgotten to back up your data on the machine, do so
first. As long as none of the computer's hardware was damaged by the
power outages (and that can happen), it is completely possible to
retrieve data even if you can't boot into Windows. I prefer to use
Knoppix, a Linux distro that runs from CD and copy data to an external
hard drive. If you want more information on doing this, let me know.
Naturally you can skip this step, but that is your choice.
2. Do a clean-boot of Windows, which effectively stops everything
non-essential from starting with Windows.
Clean boot in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353
Clean-boot advanced troubleshooting in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434
How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560
If the clean-boot allows you to get into Regular Mode, then you can
start figuring out which item that is set to start with Windows is
broken and fix it.
3. If doing a clean-boot doesn't get you into Regular Mode, do a Repair
Install of Windows.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm - Repair Install
How-To
4. If none of the above works, you have the choice of taking the machine
to a professional computer repair shop (not your local version of
BigComputerStore/GeekSquad) to see if they can fix things or doing a
clean install of Windows. Since I don't know your level of computer
expertise, you are the only one who can decide what is right for you.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...alling_Windows -
What you will need on-hand
When this is over, purchase an Uninterruptible Power Supply. For single
computers, I like the Belkin 550's.
Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User