My windows XP won't start up on my laptop
I was trying to load safe mode to clear some problems i knew i had (Infostealer), and my computer stopped at the "Windows is starting up screen" before i could get to the user list. It had been working just fine before, even though i still had the Infostealer and Norton was just blocking it. All i did was install two programs, HijackThis and AVG scanner (which i was referred to from a thread post on this site) and now, nothing will load. All variations of safe mode, the last known good configuration, debugging mode, normal mode, everything just stops at "windows is starting up." the mouse still works, but that's about it.

I left it up all night and the screen didn't change. i ran every diagnostics test, and all of them passed. I called tech support and they told me to reinstall the OS. I found my old XP SP1 disk and reinstalled it and it still froze at the same screen. The last thing i tried was instead of reinstalling, i went to repair when i booted from the disk and ran CHKDSK /p and CHKDSK /r, and those came back fine as well. Nothing seems to be wrong, but it still won't load. I can't even access any of my files, which i desperately need. I'm trying to avoid paying for some one else to fix it, if at all possible, but the dell support told me my hard disk might just be dying.

please help if possible

Try to connect your Hard-drive to another PC already running on XP. This might enable you to save your files, or indicate whether the disc is crap or not. Should it work on another computer, you will get the chance to format the disc if this could help...

thanks i'll see how that works
i was desperate for help to get those files so i turned it over to a friend of mine who's been trying to get me some help as well and i should get it back within the week.
if they can't figure out before i get it back i've got a couple of computers i can hook it up to so i can check it out.
appreciate the help though, you guys are the best

Make sure that you hook it up to NT/2k//XP system. W95/98 (and Me, I think) won't read NTFS without add-on.

I found a cure for this problem that does not require a complete re-install of Windows and posted it at http://www.daniweb.com/forums/post48...tml#post483049