Can't use computer due to blue screen

Hi everyone,

I am currently using another computer to write this message. My main computer will not work. When I boot up, it goes to a blue screen that begins with the sentence, "A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent further damage to your computer." It also says that I can go into safe mode and delete recently downloaded hardware or software. I tried to do this, but it won't even let me go into safe mode. I use Windows XP. The computer is an HP Pavillion desktop a1610n. Can anyone help me with this problem? If you need any additional information, please let me know, and I will gladly provide it. Thank you so much.


---Kate

Do you have the recovery disk that came with this computer?

I am going thru the same exact thing this very moment, and no matter what you do nothing will get the windows xp to start' at least that is my experience right now. I got hooked up with Dell thru another computer and they said my problem was that the hard drive had failed. I have the same exact message that you have, and i'll bet that F 8 or F anything isn't helping you either. I wound up buying a refurbished hard drive and i'm doing the surgery myself just as soon as it gets here. I didn't wanna spend a lot since my Dell is outta here in February. Don't know yet what brand i'm gonna get.

No. I don't have the recovery disc.

Is there any way to fix this?

Do you know anyone that you can borrow an installation CD from? It will have to be the same version of XP as you own, eg. Home or Pro.

I believe I can borrow a disc from someone, yes. I am waiting for someone to call me about it tonight, but it would be nice if I didn't have to pay for repairs, because I can't even pay my rent, electric, etc.

If I can borrow the cd, then what do I do next?

First, try using the Recovery Console.

The following is quoted from Microsoft.

"Starting the Windows Recovery Console from the Windows XP CD-ROM
If you have not preinstalled the Windows Recovery Console, you can start the computer and use the Recovery Console directly from your original Windows XP installation disc. If your computer is already in Windows and you want to add the Windows Recovery Console as a startup option, go to the next section "Adding the Windows Recovery Console as a startup option."

1. Insert the Windows XP CD into your CD drive and restart your computer. If you are prompted, select any options required to start (boot) from the CD.
2. When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts. Select the repair or recover option by pressing R.
3. If you have a dual-boot or multiboot system, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
4. When you are prompted, type the Administrator password.
5. At the command prompt, type Recovery Console commands, and then you can refer to the commands that are listed in the "Available commands within Windows Recovery Console" section.
6. At any time, you can type Help for a list of available commands.
7. At any time, you can type Help commandname for help on a specific command. For example, you can type help attrib to display the help on the attributes command.
8. At any time, you can exit Windows Recovery Console by typing Exit at the command line."

If this doesn't work, do a Repair Installation. This will not affect your data or programs that you installed after purchasing the computer.

Boot the computer from the XP CD. You may need to change boot order in the BIOS so that the CD-ROM is the first device in the boot order.

When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below

This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

Press Enter to start the Windows Setup.

To setup Windows XP now and Repair Install , press ENTER.
You do not want to choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R.

Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.

Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair. If Repair isn't one of the option end the installation, this will mean that you will need to do a fresh installation of XP.

The repair will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot, the repair installation will continue after the reboot.