My Laptop gets as far as the 'Windows is starting up' screen (the light blue one) when i turn it on, but that's it! I can move the mouse around the screen but nothing else works, and the same happens when when I try to start up in safe mode. Could anyone give me any help please? Thanks.

It seems some of the files have become corrupt or you may have contracted a virus. Since you can't do a SFC /Scannow I would suggest doing a repair install. This will keep your files and settings intact. You can find how to do this here "michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm"
another thing you can do is to keep pressing F8 when you turn on your computer. then when the safe mode option comes up, choose "last good configurations" and see if that helps solve your problem.
another thing you can do is, if you have your windows xp cd, boot up with it. then on the main console choose repair. press enter to skip the admin password process if you dont have one.
then on C: type in "fixboot" or "fixmbr" without the "". it should only take a sec and then restart the computer. then boot to windows and see if you can bootup after that. good luck!!

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axpb, go into BIOS Setup on your computer to set the CD/DVD drive as the first bootable device, so you can then boot your XP CD.

How you do this varies with each manufacturer. Normally you press F1, F2, F10 or Del when you see the manufacturers logo. Often there is a clue somewhere on the screen when you boot normally telling you what key to press. Some computers (most newer ones) have a key you can press (often F12) to bring up the Boot Menu from where you can select the CD/DVD drive to boot from.

If you don't have an XP CD, download and create a bootable CD from the .iso file XP Recovery Console

You don't burn the iso file itself to CD., you create a CD from the iso file using your CD burning software. There is a good freeware burner called ImgBurn which will
do this.

Boot the CD and at the first opportunity, enter R to start the Recovery Console.
Next, choose which XP installation you want to login to. Normally this will be 1.
Lastly you will be asked for the Administrator password. Just press the Enter key as the Administrator does not have a password (unless you gave it one, then you would enter it).
From the command prompt, enter: chkdsk c: /r
Allow it to complete undisturbed. It can take an hour or more depending on the size of the hard drive.

Remove the CD, type exit and the computer will reboot. Hopefully that will have fixed the problem (corrupted file system).

Hello every one..