My sick laptop...Help plz

[TragicNancy]

This morning my daughter was using her laptop (an HP Pavillion) when it just shut down. When we restarted it the screen is black and shows this:

Intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 082)
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation

For Realtek RTL8139(X)/8130/810X PCI Fast Ethenet COntroller v2.13 (020326)

CLIENT MAC ADDR: 00 C0 9F CD 5E CC GUID: 00DA9E90-ACC8-D911-939F-00C09FCD5ECCDHCP..._

Now...at the end of all this is a blinking underscore with a rotating slash over it....after a few moments it will continue on to say, where the underscore is...

PXE-E53: No bootfile name recieved
then it says
PXE-MOF : Exiting PXE ROM

then, once this is all done it will go black and begin again at the Intel UNDI part.

I can find my away around a computer as fas as USING it very well, but my knowledge of all of the technical aspects is very limited. With my desktop I know how to roll it back to a previous date when I have issues but I have no idea what to do in this case and on a laptop. I don't seem to know where to find the "rollback" on the laptop or even if that will work for my problem. I did investigate a bit with the Fkey commands it shows right when I turn it on but I don't recognize anything I see there. I also do not have a lot of experience with a lappy, so I don't even really know if the they are the same as my PC as far as command n such. Also, as dumb as this makes me feel, I don't even know if I can go into safe mode on a lappy, and I don't see it come up anywhere to tell me when or how to do so.

I hope I have explained myself well enough for someone to recognize this problem and offer some suggestions. Also, she got the laptop from her dad for Christmas and I found out afterward that it came from *gulp* a pawnshop. Until now it has worked excellently save for some of the normal hassles that come with computer usage.

Thanks!

[hughv]

Your computer is trying to boot from a network, and not finding it.
You can try changing the boot order in the BIOS, but a typical cause is Hard Drive death.
The network boot is one of the boot options, and the BIOS may be searching all the alternatives due to HD failure.
Post the exact model and we may be of more help.

[TragicNancy]

Thanl you for your response :) It is a HP Pavillion ze200 running windows xp home edition. Also, not sure if it matters but it was connected via ethernet cable to my dsl modem, along with the pc I am on now.

[hughv]

This must be an old model as I didn't find it on the HP site.
I think BIOS access is F1 on boot. Check first for "boot order" "or boot sequence". This should be set to Hard drive or drive C.
If the boot order is correct, your Hard drive is not booting. Try booting to your XP CD and run the repair option.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
(Skip the recovery console).
If the disk finds the HD, run the repair. If not, it's probably dead.

[TragicNancy]

Well, I am quite positive that I have found the source of the problem. I decided to investigate what was what under the panels on the back, and lo and behold....when I opened the one housing the hard drive I found a sticky, semi-dry liquid I determined to be milk. I am not sure how much got in there, but apparently it was enough. There doesn't seem to be any traces of it under any of the other panels. I'm so sorry to have wasted your time, altho you did help me by leading me in the right direction and I thank you :)
Now I only hope it is salvagable. I get the feeling I'm going to be learning much more about laptops. lol

Thank You Again
:)

[TragicNancy]

Oh and of course...proper action will be taken with my 12 yr old who broke the no eating while on the computer rule. LOL

[hughv]

Since this substance is on the bottom, I would think the substance came from where she placed it (i.ie., in a previous spill). Just a little Sherlock Holmes thought. If this substance leaked through from the top, you have a much bigger problem.
Since you found the HD so easily, it should be easy to replace.