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Laptop won't boot past splash screen, blinking cursor


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RPete88

RPete88

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I'll start with the background info:
I have a Dell Inspiron E1705 with Windows XP and Ubuntu installed. Previously, GRUB would boot up and allow me to select which OS to run.
A day or two ago, I was using StumbleUpon and listening to iTunes when my computer froze, minimized to the desktop, and showed a window saying there was a virus. Half the icons on my desktop were missing and I didn't have control of the mouse. I performed a hard shutdown. When I restarted the computer, it went past the Dell splash screen and sat at a black screen with a blinking cursor in the top left hand.

What I've done so far:
-Tried removing the battery and starting the laptop.
-Removed the hard drive and started the laptop, receiving a "missing hard drive" error, replacing the hard drive and starting the laptop.
-Running off a live Ubuntu CD.

I've had the most luck running of the live cd. Originally, I couldn't get the windows partition to mount, but after trying (and failing) to get GRUB to install, one of the commands must have freed it up and now it mounts properly (in the live environment). However, my computer still won't boot past that blinking cursor.

I opened up the Boot.ini file and everything seems in order, however I still get an error when trying to mount the Ubuntu partition (but I think I can worry about that later).

So, since I can open up that partition and browse around my files just fine, why won't the darn thing boot up? Could GRUB be installed in the inaccessible Ubuntu partition and freezing up the computer before Windows can load? Is there something wrong with the Windows partition? Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated, and if you need to know anything else that can help I'd happily attempt to answer. Thank you very much in advance.
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