Help! Windows XP won't start in any mode

[jcc]

Hi, running a cheapo pc world pc running Windows XP, 256K ram, intel celeron processor, broadband connection

 

Yesterday fired up pc as normal, but stays on B&W screens, saying hardware/software problem and giving options to restart in safe mode etc. Whatever option i choose, just goes back to the same screen.

 

I tried F10, as one of the lines say f10/R, and it goes into some kind of recovery menu (shows windows XP startup then mount kilimanjaro pic first). But when I follow the prompts it says can't recover. The english isn't good on these screens, not sure if they are genuine or not (things like "Critic error" instead of critical).

 

Is there anything else I can get into to sort this out ?

 

The only things I was on before I shut it down last were an insurance search engine (confused.com) and MSN

Broadband is still ok, as connected my daughter's laptop to it fine

[danzil]

do you have an XP cd, it does sound like a hard drive failure but cant be certain.need the xp cd for sure, but most likely good old pc world did not give you a copy, just a recovery cd.(my opinion but pc world suck).

can you boot into safe mode (tapping F8 at startup)

could also be a bios corrruption but seems unlikely,the only way to make sure ios to remove the cmos battery for 20mins,(this is on your motherboard remove power cable then wait for 20 mins before removing,)

regards

danzil