I shut down my pc after I was on the internet and when I started it again it booted up to where it only displays the black screen with the windows logo, later on it wouldn't boot up at all showing these messages: PXE-E61: Media test Failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting intel PXE ROM
Boot Failure: System Halted

I also inserted the Restore CD1 of 2 in the CDRW and after few SECONDS the screen shows at the bottom :
Unrecoverable exception, Program terminated
X:\>...
My System's details: VPR Matrix, Windows XP Home Service Pack2, 512MB RAM, Intel Pentium4 1.80GH, MacAfee security through Comcast

I have had this computer for 6 years since new, never have i had a problem with it, lately my kids have been playing games on the internet... I admire your dedication.can you boot into safe mode??

tap f8 before windows startsThe 2 most common causes of this are a failing CMos battery or a loose connector to the hard drive.
If this is a desktop this is fairly easy to check. Remove a side panel and all power sources and replace the CMOS battery on the MBoard (about the size of a dime)
While you are in there unplug and re-seat bith cables to the hard drive...four pin power and the IDE ribbon cable.
The other thing that makes this pop up is that your machine is also set to possibly boot to a network which you probably don't NEED so dis-able it in the BIOS.

Now if it's a laptop this is a bit trickier so post back and let us know...

Also unfortunately since you used the Recovery CD to try and recover from this error your data may well be gone...even though it did not FINISH...thank you guys, I tried changing the CMos battery, unplugged and plugged the cables to the HDD but I'm still getting the same message: boot failure, system Halted and I pressed F8 that displays the boot devices as follows: Removable Dev
HDD
ATAPI CD- Rom
IBA 4. 0 .19 slot 0208
I also pressed F10, looked in the BOIS set up Utility that lists:
1st boot Dev: Removable Dev
2nd: ATAPI CD-ROM
3rd : Hard drive
4th : IBA 4.0.19 slot 0208
anything else I can try before I It does not find an operating system on any device. You can do a complete reinstall of windows (and lose all your existing data - if you haven't already) or can replace the HD, install windows on it, then slave the defective drive and attempt to recover any data on it.Travel Here for a thread with the exact same error message...perhaps there is a solution that will WORK for you...
Remember to write down any BIOS changes made and only change ONE item at a time to keep from getting all mucked up...