Windows not loading in safe mode. Need to save work.

Hello.

I have reached the conclusion that I need to format my laptop: acer travelmate 2414wlmi, and reinstall XP, however I am not sure if this is possible as the os does not load in either normal mode or safe mode.

I picked up a virus a few days ago that redirected me repeatedly to poiskin.ru, a problem I've seen that others have had. But now that I have access to an external hard drive to save my work, windows does not get past the welcome screen in normal mode, and is only usable for about a second in safe mode. Is there anything I can do to save my work?

Any help would be great.
Thanks
Ed

 

Sorted now- thanks to ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download -which allowed me access to my files despite windows not loading.
Ed