[walrusgod]

I was using my computer as usual, on the internet, when the browser window suddenly closed, after an error message had flashed up too quickly to read. I tried to reopen the window several times, but the same thing happened, so I decided to restart. It appeared to restart normally, until the point where you choose which user (windows xp home), where instead of the normal user selection screen the screen goes black, except for the mouse pointer. Sometimes after a couple of minutes the computer restarts itself, but it ends up back at the same place. Same thing happens if you turn it off and on again (by holding down the power button). The computer is ~7 years old. I've tried safe mode and a few of the other options that appear when you press f8 whilst the computer is starting up, but it always just leads to a black screen with the mouse pointer.
Let me know if you need any more info.

Thanks

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In most instances with XP, the Black Screen usually points to corrupted video drivers or a problem with the hard drive. There have been issues in Vista (that I've seen) that are caused by problems with the userinit.exe file (due to malware) - but I haven't seen this in XP.

Since you can't get into Windows, the first step would be to see if you can get into the Recovery Console ( http://www.bleepingc...utorial117.html )
If you do get into it, try the following 3 commands (press Enter after each one, and answer Y for yes if asked something like "are you sure?")

FIXMBR

FIXBOOT

CHKDSK /R

If all those complete successfully and you still can't boot into Windows, I'd suggest downloading a bootable hard drive diagnostic from the website of your hard drive manufacturer. Run the diagnostic to see if the drive is failing.

[usasma]

In most instances with XP, the Black Screen usually points to corrupted video drivers or a problem with the hard drive. There have been issues in Vista (that I've seen) that are caused by problems with the userinit.exe file (due to malware) - but I haven't seen this in XP.

Since you can't get into Windows, the first step would be to see if you can get into the Recovery Console ( http://www.bleepingc...utorial117.html )
If you do get into it, try the following 3 commands (press Enter after each one, and answer Y for yes if asked something like "are you sure?")

FIXMBR

FIXBOOT

CHKDSK /R

If all those complete successfully and you still can't boot into Windows, I'd suggest downloading a bootable hard drive diagnostic from the website of your hard drive manufacturer. Run the diagnostic to see if the drive is failing.