computer won't start in safe mode

Help! I'm running XP home edition with Norton's Systemworks. 2 days ago, the computer locked up while I was burning a CD and now it won't start at all, not even in safe mode.

I don't have an XP start up disk, but I do have an ME start-up disk. (the computer is old and has had win98 and ME on it in the past)

I tried starting from the start-up disk. I was able to do a scanreg, scandisk and surface scandisk. It said it fixed the six registry errors I had, but the computer still won't start.

When I try to start the computer I get the following messages:

The following files are missing or corrupted:

C:\windows\IFSHLP.SYS
C:\windows\system\VMM32.VXD

I had just run a full virus scan the day before and the auto-protect is always on. Is this a virus or a possible hardware problem?

Thanks,
Tina

 

Welcome to geeks, dont know if this is of any help http://www.bootdisk.com/

 

Thanks, I'll give it a try.


Tina

 

i had major probs with norton system works, im not saying our probs are related, but i ditched NSW and switched to recommendations of MGs

 

scanreg and scandisk are 9x/ME utilities and will not help you fix an XP installation.

Those two files are 9x/ME files, not XP files.


Exactly which OS is installed on this machine? Is it a dual-boot machine?

 

The computer was running XP.

My husband was finally able to get the XP to do a "restore" from DOS mode but it's gone back to the orginal formatting and none of my files or other programs are there. I'm not worried about the programs, they're easy enough to reinstall but while 90% of my files were backed up, I did have some digital pictures on the computer that I hate to lose. Any suggestions on how to retrieve the information on the harddrive? Or is it a lost cause?

Thanks,

Tina

 

If it can be retrieved, this will do it:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2463.html

 

i used the safe mode fixer to fix the safe mode boot,
no trial but it worked, here it is:

http://moonvalleysoft.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=28

 

C'mon...seriously. Out of all the threads on here you pick a 4 year old one for your first post!