Unless you already had some sort of dual-boot (i.e., XP and DOS), installing
System Works should not have given you a DOS option, let alone a DOS
default. Unlike 98/ME, XP has no DOS equivalent, so restarting in DOS is
impossible under XP. That said, XP does have a boot mode that is similar to
DOS, but it is usually a blue backgroud with white characters. In contrast,
a DOS mode is usually black background with white characters. XP uses this
mode for things like CHKDSK (checking disk/files) with the /F or /R options.
If you have a blue screen with hexadecimal junk, that is not DOS, nor the XP
boot mode, but the infamous blue screen of death.
I have one other thought: If the system works included GHOST 2003, that has
some sort of vitrual partiton and overly clever partition hiding or
switching of active partitions. If anything goes wrong in this process of
using GHOST, even during something as simple as creating a backup image, you
could end up stuck in a DOS mode. Effectively, GHOST is rebooting the PC
from a hidden DOS partition that it created for you. If you suspect that
something like this could be the problem, be aware that Symantec offer a
free download to fix being stuck in the GHOST reboot process. They call it
GhReboot.
