Trouble starting computer windows xp

Question

Hi, I kind of have a problem starting windows xp.  After i press the power button, the dell logo comes out, and then a screen that says the following appears:   'We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully.  A recent hardware or software change might have caused this.  If your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was automatically shut down to protect you files and folders, chose Last Known Good Configuration to revert to the most recent settings that worked.  If a previous startup attempt was interrupted due to a power failure or because the Power or Reset button was pressed, or if you aren't sure what caused the problem, choose Start Windows Normally.'   And then they list Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, Safe Mode with Command Prompt, Last Known Good Configuration, and Start Windows Normally.   When I start with any safe mode options, long list of words and numbers come out and stays that way.  When I choose last known good configuration or try to start windows normally, the Windows Xp loads with the little things moving across but after that the computer becomes silent and the screen just turns off/turns black, while the computers power is still on.    By the way, this all started after I shut down in the midst of watching a dvd.   I would appreciate if anyone can help me with this.  Thanks!

mombodog · Answer

Next time you are at the safe mode, last known good config screen (at boot time) look for 'enable VGA mode' and select this, if it boots ok then you have a corrupted video driver, stay booted in this VGA mode and reinstall your video driver, reboot and it should be fine. Let us know how it goes.

san90x0x0 · Answer

Thanks for your reply.  Unfortunately, on the safe mode last known good configuration screen, i was not able to find the 'enable VGA mode' on the screen.  The things I listed previously is the only thing that is written on the screen.  Is there somewhere else i need to go to find this?  Thanks.

mombodog · Answer

You can try F8 or F12 immediately after the bios post. Just start tapping the F8 orF12 key during boot up before you get to the XP screen.

san90x0x0 · Answer

I tried using the windows xp cd and putting it on recovery mode.  Thankfully, this helped fix my problem and everything seems to be back to normal.  Thanks for your help though.  I truly did appreciate it!

Windows General

Was this post helpful?