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hi, i have a dell computer (almost 3-4 years old, but still faster and better than many computers today) with windows xp on it. I always leave it on during the day and one day i came home and it had logged off and frozen. I restarted my computer and it went smoothly until it got to the screen that says " windows xp, please wait while loading...." or something of that sort (its blue and comes right before it goes into the user name screen; pretty much the same thing but without the user names) and i think the computer was still running but it got stuck on that screen. i tried leaving it for a long long while but it would never do anything else. Ive tried to put it in safe mode but that didn't work. WHAT SHOULD I DO? I NEED TO FIX IT QUICK! THANKS

Hi lildevil, welcome to the PCHF!

So it does the exact same thing when going into safe mode?

It appears that you have some major problems involving the required boot programs. If your computer has the system restore files on a protected D drive then use system restore, of course you will loose any thing added since new. If you have the restore CD or CD's use them and choose the "repair" option this will leave anyfiles or files created in tack. If the computer had a different OS than it has now you will need the correct drivers for the video, modem, sound and any other hardware added. As far as software added you should still have the CD's to re-install them.

You should try booting up with your Windows XP CD and when you get to the install options, choose "R" for the Recovery console. Once there at the C:\Windows prompt, type in "Chkdsk /R" without the quotes.

It may take a while to run, but when it's finished, type "exit", remove the Windows CD and let it reboot normally.

Post back if this doesn't help and we can try a few other things before you attempt a re-install.

Good evening!
You said that safe mode didn't work...did you try the "last good known configuration" option in the start-up page (safe mode page) ?