What version of XP is on the hard drive? SP2 or SP3?

 

You can try this:

Reboot and press F8 before XP starts to load

Select "last known good" from the menu

If that gets you to your desktop, shut down normally and reboot normally.

 

If not and your hard drive still has SP2, you'll need to run a repair/reinstall of XP. Personal files will be ok but you will have to reinstall all XP updates and hotfixes again.

 

Boot from the Dell XP Reinstallation CD

At first screen press R to launch Recovery Console

At C: prompt, type in: chkdsk c: /p /r

Press Enter

(go take a nap!)

 

When that's done, reboot from the XP CD again.

This time, press Enter at first screen (not R)

XP User license should appear

Accept the license

Select your version of XP on next screen (should only be one)

On next screen, press R to launch Repair/Reinstall

When that's done, get firewall and antiviral software running

Go directly to MS update site and download SP3 and any other updates you need.

 

If your hard drive already has SP3, you'll need to do some additional work before you can run the Repair/Reinstall.

 

Ron