Computer will not boot up from a virus help please!!

[Laura Stephens]

Hi I am a new freshman at college and I got a laptop and
it was working fine until I pluged into the network and
now I have a virus I have been told and my computer
doesn't even start up. It reaches the windows loading
screen where the bars go back and forth and then after
that screen it just goes black and then restarts and just
keeps repeating this pattern and we are not able to
restart it in safe mode or anything. I have been trying
to find a startup disk for my versioon of Office Xp
Professional but I have not been able to find how or
where I can get a start up disk. If anyone knows what is
going on with my computer I would love you forever if you
could help me out, I really need to figure this thing out.

 

[Kelly]

Hi Laura,

Office XP won't help you here, but Windows XP will. See if you can try a
repair install:

Repair the Windows XP Installation - Note: You will forfeit all MS Updates.

Configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive. For more information
about how to do this, please refer to your computer's documentation or
contact your computer manufacturer.

Insert your Windows XP compact disc (CD) into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM
drive, and then restart your computer.

(You can also boot with a Windows 98/Me Startup disk with CD support and run
WINNT.EXE in the I386 folder on the CD)

When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your
screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.

When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen,
press ENTER: To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is
displayed. Do not select this option.

On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the
license agreement. Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is
selected in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP. Follow
the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.

Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q315341

Obtaining Windows XP Setup Boot Disks (Home & Pro)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q310994

HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition with Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q305595