Windows Home Edition - Can't get past Blue Screen

[Guest]

Hi,
My son was messing with the computer. I have no idea what happened, but now
I get a blue screen with a "User" box. I can not get past this. When I select
user, it makes the windows noises but won't go past the blue screen. So I am
stuck.
- You know the rest.
How do I get back into XP Home and boot from there past the blue screen?
I have tried F8 and all the modes, but can't seem to get to a screen that I
can make choices.
Please help.
Thanks

 

[Iceman]

Hi,
My son was messing with the computer. I have no idea what happened, but now
I get a blue screen with a "User" box. I can not get past this. When I select
user, it makes the windows noises but won't go past the blue screen. So I am
stuck.
- You know the rest.
How do I get back into XP Home and boot from there past the blue screen?
I have tried F8 and all the modes, but can't seem to get to a screen that I
can make choices.
Please help.
Thanks

Have you tried a System Restore?

"Ho to start the System Restore Tool from a Command Prompt"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304449/

"How to restore the operating system to a previous state in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084/

Note, that you may lose settings and some installed programs.

 

[Guest]

Thanks I just tried this but the screen came up blank with a message "Mode
Not Supported" and hung up?

 

[Iceman]

Thanks I just tried this but the screen came up blank with a message "Mode
Not Supported" and hung up?

Can you boot up from your setup CD? If not, get a bootup disk from here:

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Thanks I just tried this but the screen came up blank with a message "Mode
Not Supported" and hung up?

What exactly is in this "user" box?

What kind of disks did you get with the system? Is there an actual bootable
Windows disk, a Restore disk of some kind or nothing at all?

You may need to run a Repair install from a bootable Windows disk, a
reinstall from a Restore disk - the second option will quite possibly result
in data loss.

If there is data you need on that machine, you are probably best off
removing the drive and copying files to a working XP system that has more
than enough space. Do this before you do anything else. You may still
wind up having to reinstall programs and reconfiguring settings (like email
accounts) but at least you'll have your data.

If the machine didn't come with any disks, check the recovery partition once
you've backed up the data.

If there are no disks and no recovery partition, the official technical term
for your situation is "screwed". You will have to buy a new XP license to
be able to reinstall. Contact the manufacturer to complain about this, and
don't buy systems that don't come with install or restore disks or which
rely on a recovery partition.


HTH
-pk