windows will not start its in a loop. Please help.

Hi I have a Dell Inspirion 600m windows xp , and i have been getting this message : Someone please help me!!!!! Recently my computer shut down and rebooted on to the same message. The message was as follows: 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 your files and folders, choose 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. Safe Mode Safe Mode with Networking Safe Mode with Command Prompt Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked) Start Windows Normally Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight to your choice. Seconds until Windows starts: 30 whatever I choose to do its always goes in a loop and comes back to the same message. Please help me. Thank You Liz

Choose, disable automatic restart on system failure. To do so, you might need to choose "normal" mode from this menu and immediately after pressing enter start tapping F8. If you see another prompt asking you which OS you want to start (Windows XP…) just choose that and immediately after pressing enter start tapping F8. Now, you will have another advanced startup menu similar to the above, and choose disable automatic restart on system failure. With that, it should stop, and show you why it isn't starting on a blue screen. Report that information back to us without all the generic stuff about disabling your anti-virus, removing any newly installed hardware, etc. If it still does not stop so that you can see that error message and continues to reboot, then repeat the steps above but choose safe mode on the first menu, then follow the rest of the instructions choosing disable automatic restart on system failure on the 2nd or 3rd menu.

Okay I will give it a try and let you know the results

Okay ,I followed your instructions, and this is the message I received: A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.unmountable_boot_volume. Thank again for your help.

Hello this indicates a problem with your file system, with the most likely explanation being physical damage to the hard drive or hard drive failure.

In order to move forward you will need to be able to access the windows recovery console. In order to do so, you will need to have a Windows XP installation disc available, or you will need to manually download and create a recovery console boot CD.

If you don't have an XP CD, download and run ARCDC by Artellos. It will download the required files from the Microsoft Web site and create a .iso file. It will also offer to burn the iso image to a CD for you. If you don't do it then, there is a good freeware burner called ImgBurn which will do it at a later time. If you're unsure how to do this, you can follow the tutorial here: How to Burn an ISO File

Once you are able to boot to the recovery console you will be able to run the necessary test to determine the condition of your hard drive and/or repair your file system.

I must point out that at this point there is a high likely hood your hard drive is failing and that your important data is at risk. If this important data includes critical business information, family photos, or other highly valuable data, then you may want to consider a professional service company at this point. Any further work on your laptop by inexperienced hands may further jeopardize the data, or lose it all together. You decide.