win xp keeps on going to error screen

Hey there, im actually posting this on behalf of a friend who recently came across some problems with WinXP (Home Edition)
on his home pc.

He owns a Packard Bell pc, about 3 years old, its a Pentium 4.

The problem occurs when starting up the pc. Everytime he starts it, he gets the screen which starts of by saying
"We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully..." and then prompts him to select from
a list of options

Safe mode, safe mode with networking, last known good configuration, start windows normally, etc.

However, whichever he tries to select, WinXP still doesnt load, and the pc restarts and goes back to the same
screen as above!

So anyway, i tried to go into his BIOS setup (in the main screen after starting up, when they say "Press F2 for BIOS Setup")
but found that i couldnt even access the BIOS. Its as if the pc just ignored my commands and went straight to the "We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully..." screen.

Theres a small variation though. when he selects "last known good configuration" in the screen, the WinXP logo pop up for a bit (as though its loading) but then again, the PC restarts itself and its back to square one.

Basically, theres no way he can access his WinXP at all..

He's really perplexed as a lot of his work documents r on that pc..

i really hope someone here can help me out! thanks!!!

Regards,
dev

Try repeatedly pressing F2 to enter the BIOS Setup. This is a twist on the usual non booting XP so I would verify that you absolutely cannot enter the BIOS Setup.

Next what is the exact model? What CD's do you have? PBell has a boot disk creator but if you haven't already done so I am not sure if it will work in this case:

http://support.packardbell.com/uk/it...i=menu_desktop

Also:

http://support.packardbell.com/uk/it...ppn=PB34308801

You basically need a boot disk. There are many options once a boot disk is available. Microsoft offers these floppies although it is not clear how they will react to the PBell XP:

Try the 6 floppy setup disks to enter the Recovery Console.

How to obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks


In a worse case scenario the data on the hard drive can be extracted on another computer as a slave drive.


The BIOS Setup is a different and more confusing issue. You could try flashing the BIOS or clearing the settings by removing the motherboard battery for a few minutes.