XP will not start

[Mark]

Using Windows XP home edition, upgraded to SP2 about a
week ago with no problems. Norton AV with regular
definition updates and last full scan on Friday (10 Sep).

When I powered up the laptop last night the startup
process took a long time. As I recall, there was nothing
unusual about the last shutdown and no new programs
installed lately (at least not intentionally!)

I get to the point where the desktop displays and the
icons in the bottom right near the clock don't show up.
The hard drive spins and spins. I get a notice that
Norton had to be shut down with an option to send
information to MS. Shortly after I choose any of the
buttons (Send, Don't Send, whatever) I get a blue screen
which disappears too quickly to be read and the process
repeats itself. Safe Mode and Last Good are not working.

Is there a way to create a bootable CD so I can try to
repair my installation? The CD that came with my
computer only gives me to option to reformat the entire
drive (no option to repair) Any thoughts?

 

[Guest]

I have the same setup. No windows xp cd . A cd that
reformats the drive and then load windows xp. So after
having events that clobber windows, all I could do is
return windows to vanilla. Lost all of what I did. So I
made sure to have a reliable backup of my files. I use
stomp backup MYPC. So if windows gets clobberered, I use
the reformat and windows intallation disk, then I my
rescue cd to call backup mypc, then call in my backups
cds and restore all my files and system state.

You can get a trial version from :

http://www.stompsoft.com/backupmypc.html