Can't start WindowsXP!

Hi,

After I had to do a full system recovery, I reinstalled all my programs and
updates. Everthing was fine except I had trouble getting rid of automatic
password window at Windows startup. It was using an old user name even
though that name didn't show up in User Accounts. Alot of things were being
stored there and my start menu items were there. Sometimes, they would go to
my only User Account called Owner under the computer name Gail. So, some
were in one place, and some, another. So, yesterday, while in Safe Mode I
took over ownership of as many window files as I could do as I had to keep
opening files within folders. It didn't work to try to take ownership of everything within a file or program. I was trying to get rid of Administrators.Gail from permissions. When doing so it removed all permissions and I added back Owner or added it for the first time. A few of them had System as one of the permissions that were removed and I did not add
it back. Don't know if that is the problem.

Anyway, after I restarted computer from Safe Mode, it did not reboot. It
went through Windows screen then went blank with a curser. No matter what I try to do to get back into Windows, I keep getting the blank screen. I can't get back into safe mode except with a black screen with the safe mode heading at the top and safe mode in all 4 corners. But there are no icons, start button or taskbar. Is there anything I can do short of a full destructive
recovery again? Is there a way to do a system restore? I can't get into
safe mode with command prompt, either. Can I at least do a nondestructive
recovery if I have to do recovery? I don't have a windows xp cd, it is an OEM system.

I hope I am making sense. Can anyone help?

Thank you.

 

A full system recovery implies that the drive was formatted, but everything you mention after that wouldn't be an issue if the drive had been formatted, unless the full recovery was done quite some time ago. After a full recovery, there wouldn't be all these users you mention, and the name 'Gail' would be nowhere on the PC unless you entered it. So, I'm a bit confused about all that. But that's neither here not there. If you had an XP disc, you could to a repair install (nondestructive) and that would probably fix the main problem. But since you don't have one, maybe you can borrow one from a friend, just make sure it's a Microsoft CD and not a 'branded' disc from Dell or HP or whatever, and if you use the product key from the sticker on your PC, it will work fine. If you have no access to a Windows CD, then there's not much you can do. I would suggest building a UBCD4Win and trying some of the tools in there, but you can't build one without a Windows disc.