XP Pro Will Not Boot

I have a Toshiba laptop with XP Pro which will boot into BIOS but not boot Windows or safe mode. I don't think it is malware, as I had cleaned it a little too aggressively just before this happened.

My CD drive has been malfunctioning, due to a hardware problem. (I was going to buy an external one, but didn't get around to it). I do have a WD passport external hard drive.

Any suggestions on how to get it to boot ?

 

Hello David,

Thank you for your reply.

I try to boot up the lap top and I get the screen with the message saying "windows did not start successfully" and asks me what I want to do, safe mode etc.

There is a blue flash of screen just before it switches to this screen, of course it is too fast for me to read it.

I am able to select the HDD to use for the main boot.

Melissa

 

recovery partition?
dell has a blue line ctrl f11 to run the system restore and restore from a recovery partition


just found this



To access the Toshiba recovery partition, power off the laptop. Hold down the 0 (zero) key and turn the laptop on. Keep holding down the zero key until the TOSHIBA logo appears, where you should start tapping the zero key repeatedly. Stop if the unit beeps or when the TOSHIBA logo disappears. The screen should flash ** HDD RECOVERY MODE ** for a split second, then load the Toshiba recovery program right from the hard drive.

this will format the drive and factory install the os if available.
might want to recover files if posable 1st if you have any you dont want to lose

 

The f8 is safe mode. The f2 is the setup utility. The f12 boot selection screen.

It doesn't respond to f11.

Thanks,

melissa

 

I get the same message when I boot from the HDD.

I do have a CD which installs the the OS, but it erases everything. Also, my CD drive is malfunctioning, otherwise I would have restored it to the initial state.

It can't even go to the last known good configuration, but it keeps trying.

 

Yes I have everything backed up on the WD external drive.

I can take the back off myself.

The laptop was running slow and acting up, so I followed the Run&Read Me steps.

After I ran the combofix things started to go downhill.

My SAS, MBAM, Spy Sweeper and EMSi anti-malware said the computer was clean. As did Avast.

:confused