XP won't boot even in Safe Mode

[Guest]

I'm writing this for my daughter because she can't get XP to boot at all.
When she turns on her computer the Dell logo appears and then the screen goes
black with an error message. "Non-disc or disc error. Replace & strike any
key when ready". When she does this nothing happens. She inserted her XP
disc and the disc drive doesn't even seem to turn on. She tried to boot in
Safe Mode and nothing happened. There was a blown circuit breaker last
night, but she has a surge protector so she doesn't think the system fried.
Is that anything she can do?

 

[AJR]

A message such as "no operating system found" or "non system disk found,
insert system disk and press any key", etc. in dicate the hard drive (C is
not being recognized or has invalid or corrupted system files. There are
knowledgeable persons who monitor this news group - I am sure good advice is
forthcoming.

 

[neil]

Might sound simple but has she left a floppy disk in the A: drive. That
would give that sort of message but it could be that the hard drive has
failed.
You may need professional Dell support here.

Neil