Recovery Console hangs

My computer will not start up either normal or in safe mode. In normal mode a black screen comes shortly after the splash screen and then the windows screen. In safe mode it just sits there with the list of drivers displayed.

I tried going into the recovery console and I get as far as choosing the windows installation. It give me two choices: 1: C:\Windows or 2: F:\minint. If I choose 1, the computer just hangs and does not do anything. If I choose 2, it will give me the command prompt. I can then change to c:. I ran chkdsk /r with no improvement. By going this way, does it get me where I need to be. How can I get this computer going again

Thanks for your help.

Barb

 

By the way, the OS is Windows XP on a Dell computer.