Right. This is a bit of a frustrating problem, it's difficult to diagnosis by just surfing google because it's such a generic problem, yet it's probably somewhat serious.

It all started when the blue error screen outlining that the computer had been improperly shut down appeared. I'm using Windows XP. After it had checked 100%, it sort of stopped - it's difficult to say if it froze, it just stopped doing anything. So my Mum turned the PC off and back on. Upon turning it back on is when the problems began.

I'm using a laptop now, just for reference. Essentially, it gets to the "Boot the CD" section, then it switches to a screen apologizing for the inconvenience and informing me that something wasn't working right. I'm given the options to

- Enter Safe Mode (There is this option, then Safe mode with Command Prompt and Safe mode with networking).

- Use last good configuration

- Start Windows Normally.

Whenever you click on any of these links, it goes to a screen like this,



When that procedure has finished, the system just simply restarts, and the same error message comes up.

From doing a bit of research, It looks like a hard disk corruption or failure, or a boot problem. To any extent, if it's at all possible, i'd like to get out some important files from the hard-drive which are to do with SCHOOL work. I've used Ubuntu, and whilst It won't allow me to access "My Documents", it does get through to certain applications on the PC hard disk such as Firefox and Windows Media Player, which makes me hope that it's not a complete hard drive failure, but still.

Does anybody have any idea of what the problem is? I know i'm going to need to get SOMEONE out to repair it at some point, but knowing what the likely problem is, and if there's any chance I can recover files, is intriguing me.

Thanks!you seem to have a pretty good grasp at finding this  solution  ....
before this all went down....  did  you  hear " the sounds of a hard drive failing" ?

 any strange  sqeeking/  GRINDING sounds from INSIDE the case ?

 any grinding or high ~pitched noises ?

 had the computer begun to freeze up  on occasions  prior to this ?

Is there a video card in there ?Unfortunately I wasn't present when it decided to stop working properly. The person who was, says there weren't any bizarre noises.

I use the PC fairly regularly, and I hadn't noticed anything freezing up on it, no more than usual anyway. The night before the incident happened, I had the same "Checking Disk" Sequence, but I skipped past it because I knew already that for some reason my PC never manages to get beyond the 100% check. The last time the computer was used before the incident was by me earlier that day, I switched it off normally.

As for Video Cards, no. This CPU is a basic E-Systems SETUP.