BleepingComputer.com: windows could not start because of computer disk hardware configuration problem

My WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION does not start up in normal mode. I get a black screen, and have to select from two choices of windows xp home edition at the bottom of the screen to open my computer.
I've typed msconfig and selected normal mode and it still doesn't work.
Also I got this error message: windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware.
I'm a newbie at computers and don't understand the technical jargon. I wonder if some one could explain it in simple terms, so I could understand it.
I don't have a windows WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION CD-Rom to use recovery console. How can I fix this without a windows cd-rom?
I have Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 2002
Service Pack 2002

have you put any new hdd's in, or left a usb drive/ipod/mp3 player in the pc.
otherwise your hdd might have issues,
the recovery console is downloadable and burnable but id check the first 2 options first.

As a start...you can try this, Removing the invalid entries from Boot.ini - http://windowsxp.mvps.org/bootopt.htm

Louis