Hello I'm having a very frustrating time with my computer. I have a windows xp system. When the computer starts up it goes to the screen that says system was shut down improperly, and tells me to start normally, last known configuration, etc. There is also this number countdown that I think starts at 30 seconds. If I chose any of the options - safe mode, last known configuration, etc. the screen goes blank (black), and nothing else happens. If I don't chose anything and let the countdown happen the screen goes blank also. I am an online student please help!! I would greatly appreciate it.

If you choose safemode and you don't get white lettering on a black background fairly quickly my first guess is that there is a problem with the hard drive..... could also be a problem with the power supply....

you could try booting from the windows xp cd and choose to go to recovery console.... you'll be asked to login ( including admin password ) then at the prompt you can try the following command : chkdsk /r

Let that run and see if it fixes anything... notice if it reports any bad sectors.... when it's done type: exit

then the computer will reboot.... see if it will boot normally...

Thanks shard92, I will try that and let you know what happened.

Hi shard92,
I've gotten the windows xp cd, and I must be doing something very, very wrong. I start the computer, put in the cd, the screen comes up that says verifying dmi pool, then it's right back to the same screen about safe mode or last configuration, and it's stuck again. Nothing happens with the start up cd. I'm very lost. I've even tried waiting, and put the cd in when the safe mode/last configuration screen came up and still nothing. So it looks like I can't even get to the part of choosing a recovery console, or command prompts. Do you have any other suggestions?
lena36

okay your computer isn't set to boot to cd... you could try either changing that in setup ( usually to get to setup you need to hit f2 or Del key.... ) by going to the boot section and telling it to boot your cd/dvd drive before the hard drive or " fixed disk". It's also possible that your computer has a boot order menu.... usually accessed with f12.... in both case the keys must be pressed almost immediately after turning on computer... best bet is to slowly tap the key....

ok i did try your last suggestions, and they worked perfectly. now the only problem i have is there is no word, access, powerpoint, or excel that was downloaded. is it supposed to be that way? if so where do i get the new hardware from since it was on the computer when i got it?

by running chkdsk you should not have lost anything.... it just scans for problems and fixes them.... Did the scan find any bad sectors?

What did it say when you ran it?

I may have done something wrong then. I just tried the boot to cd/drive suggestion you gave me by pressing F12 slowly, and it booted the cd. am i still supossed to run the chkdsk?

yep you select recovery console and login then run the chkdsk.... You may have done a restore which very well may have wiped out what you had on there...

Im so frustrated i don't know what to do. Where do i find recovery console? how do i get to it? i ran chkdsk through on the prompt window. It did some checks, then went back to the desktop and nothing happened. Where can i get the word, excel powerpoint etc. do i have to buy them or can i download them. it also won't log onto the internet anymore. i don't know what's happening. please help.

when you boot from the cd it comes up with an option to hit 'R' for recovery console.... if it doesn't do that then it is not an actual windows disk.... it could be a gateway restore disk.