Hi there,
I did have a virus. I called symantec and had the problem fixed remotely. I have used the computer reluctantly a few times since then and now it won't boot past the bios black screen. I can't get into safe mode via F8. I checked the keyboard; it's working. I am interested to know whether there is another way to boot to the main page or whether there is a hardware problem I need to fix.

Thank-you for any advice anyone might have. I am leery about taking my computer into a shop. I'd rather do it myself if I can.

What can I try?

Sounds like a corrupted file system to me.

You are going to have to get 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, unless it provides the ability to press a Fn key at boot time to bring up the boot selection menu. If it does, use that.

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 run ARCDC by Artellos. It will download the required files from the Microsoft Web site and crete a .iso file.

If for some reason that doesn't work, 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 /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).

Ztruker has answered correctly. Me too think so. I hope it will resolve your problem. Further, if u face data loss issue then please let me know. I have a wonderful too to overcome this problem.