drive will not boot after an update; possible virus?

Hello all.
I allowed Windows to install an update after which it should have rebooted.
No such luck.
Dell laptop with WIN XP. AVG and SpybotSD have always been running.

Now whenever I attempt to boot all I get is a blinking cursor on the top left of the screen after one blink of the hard drive light after POST.
No errors.

The drive will not boot in another laptop.
Again, it goes through POST but I just get a blinking cursor, no error message, one bump to the hard drive right after POST.

I also tried to repair from the install CD, but now it has a password that is not the one I set.

I tried a couple of boot Cd utils to find this password, but none of them will boot. OPHcrack and Emergency Boot CD.
(this may involve operator error, since I never burned an ISO disk before).



I have grabbed my data from the drive by attaching it via a usb adapter to another computer, and scanned it with various virus cleaner/ scanner utils.

I ran a util from Western Digital and it reports the drive is bootable.

My next step will probably be to reformat and re-install everything, but I wondered if there are other things I could try first.

Thanks, this is a great site. I just signed up. (ex lurker)

 

Thanks for the help, here are my answers.

Do you remember which update?
I googled 'xp updates 2009' and it looks like it was released Feb 10.
Feb 26 is when I installed it.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-feb.mspx

Sometimes MS has fixes if certain computers have problems with updates.
I could not find anything regarding this update affecting my model laptop.

Also what model Dell?
Inspiron 1100, a laptop. Yes it is old but it works. (well it was working)

Do you have a DVD or a hidden partition with the restore info on it?
I have no restoration disk, nor restore partition.
This is not the original hard-drive. I do have an XP install disk.

If the hardware is not the same, that is what happens. Dell drives look for Dell computers.
I'm sorry, but I don't understand this part of your reply.
Do you mean if I ran the restore from the hidden partition?
No, I have no restore partition.

 

Thanks for the continuing help.
I'll try to be more clear.

I installed the update on Feb 26 and had trouble right then.
I posted this appeal for help days after the original problem. I was trying to fix it up all by myself.

I have been using this HD for at least 15 months now. The install was from a OEM XP disk. I just used the key on the laptop sticker to make a brand new install and have had no problems up till now.

Again, my real problem is the HD does not appear to be accessed after POST is complete and when I attempt a repair, using the install CD, the system tells me it does not recognize my password.
I can browse the drive while it is attached by usb to a different computer.

I used a different drive in the laptop just to see if there was a problem with the hardware. The laptop did boot, proving drive acess is good. then I shut it down.

I don't have a recent image (my bad, I know), that's why I am trying to get this repair done.

 

Let me elaborate about swapping drives.

I took the drive that fails to boot from the dell inspiron 1100 and put it in a different machine.
I got only a blinking cursor, no error message.

Then I put a known good drive into the dell inspiron 1100 machine and it booted into windows.

So now I know the insiron 1100 hardware works and the drive is the issue.

 

Thanks for the help.
At this point I think I'll just go with a full install of windows and begin fresh.