On start up my computer displays 'Windows protection error' and when I restart It will only work in safe mode. The problem seems to have started when I was trying to use my USB external HP CD Writer which the computer didn't recognise (I havn't used it for about 6 months but it used to be ok) I then went to 'Hardware Install' and got it to search and install a new driver which required a restart and it hasn't worked since. It won't connect to the internet in safe mode so I can't download anything that might help...

Any suggestions would be really appreaciated.

Sounds like Windows has detected some hardware that wasn't configured previously and it has tried to install a driver which has broken it. The only advice that I can think of for that problem is to boot into Safe Mode, right-click the My Computer icon on the desktop, select Properties from the menu and click the Device Manager tab when the screen opens.

In Device Manager, look for any devices that might be the one that it has only just installed, highlight it and click the Remove button. Probably best to start off by removing the external CD-writer if that was causing a problem anyway.

The problem is, if you don't know what was listed in Device Manager before the error message occurred, you probably won't know what to delete and, if you aren't confident about what you're doing or you aren't happy about the thought of re-installing Windows if it goes wrong, then you might have to take it into a repair shop for some hands-on diagnostics.

Even i had the asme problem.The fault was with the sound driver.I was lucky that i recoznised the problem courtsey DJ.The staff are like angels to people like us.Thank you very much.

nomis could you please let us know if you have rectified your problem please so we can help further if you need it