I am baffled: cable went out. had to shut down computer overnite. next day i tried to restart only to receive the message on a black screen: NTLDR IS COMPRESSED; PRESS CTRL /ALT / DEL TO RESTART. CAN'T EXIT THIS SCREEN! When I go to system recovery console it doesn't WORK, for I dont have bootable/recovery disk (mea culpa)!!! I want to see if maybe I can try to get into Safe Mode, but I've tried every F command I can think of & NOTHING works. HELP Please. My Friendship forever.What do you mean by cable went out? Powercut or surge?My Mama was PUTTING up Xmas decorations and poked the cable with a stick pin. We could not find the offending pin until the next day. The cable company had told me to keep my 2 computers shut down until they figured out what was wrong. Nothing happened to my older model, but my HP a206x just went dead. It is relatively new computer--bought just 8 mos ago. I am sure that my Windows XP settings must have been affected in some way, but I lack sophistication and training in such matters; therefore I make an EDUCATED guess only. I really dont know how to deal with this because I cannot the services of a professional, as my only income is Social Security DISABILITY and my computer is my link to the world. Thanks.http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkd_tro_evwd.asp