Can't start Windows XP Home

[Guest]

I was attempting a system Restore but inadvertently turned off the power to
the system. When trying to restart i'm having problems. One of the messages
I got was that the SHDOCVW.dll file is missing. The accounts look "strange"-
the color is off, the start menu is not showing up.

Can anyone assist me with this problem as I have not the slightest clue what
todo. I tried booting from my XP CD but seems like my CD nor DVD drive is
working.

 

[Jerry]

To boot from the CD you must go into the BIOS and change the boot order.
Instructions for accessing the BIOS is in the owner's manual.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Jerry, but I already checked the bios and changed the boot sequence,
but still no results there.
It appears as though my computer is not reading the CD nor the DVD drive.

The problem is that the system is booting up from the hard drive but it
seems that I lost some critical boot up files when the system was shut down
during system restore (before it was completed). When it boots up the screen
is not clear blue but hazy, no icons are appearing on the desktop, the
taskbar is absent so I cannot do anything on the computer.

I dont know if this makes the problem any clearer, but I sure hope someone
had this problem before and can help.

 

[Rock]

I was attempting a system Restore but inadvertently turned off the power to
the system. When trying to restart i'm having problems. One of the messages
I got was that the SHDOCVW.dll file is missing. The accounts look "strange"-
the color is off, the start menu is not showing up.

Can anyone assist me with this problem as I have not the slightest clue what
todo. I tried booting from my XP CD but seems like my CD nor DVD drive is
working.

Reboot the system without the CD and as the BIOS screen disappears
repeatedly tap the F8 key until the Advanced Options menu shows up which
includes several options such as Safe Mode and Last Known Good
Configuration. Try the Last Known Good Configuration first. If that
doesn't work reboot, F8, and try safe mode. If you can get into safe
mode do a system restore to a date right before the issue happened.

If that doesn't work you'll need to do a repair install. Reboot the
computer, enter the BIOS (a prompt should display on the screen to say
what key to press to enter setup), then set the CD drive as the first
boot device. Insert the XP CD, reboot, look for a prompt telling you to
press a key to boot from the CD, then follow the prompts to repair the
current installation. See this link for info on how to do a repair install.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm