"Maria" <Maria@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4017A178-2712-46C5-8197-684563587EA3@microsoft.com...
> My laptop runs on Windows XP and it's not starting up. I get the message:
We
> apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A
> recent hardware or software change might have caused this.
>
> I've clicked on every option given and the same thing happens every time.
> The windows startup begins, a blue screen flashes--too quickly to be able
to
> read the text, then the screen with the boot up options appears;
immediately
> afterwards it goes back to the original screen with the "apology" quoted
> above.
>
> I read the article: The Automatic Recovery Screen Is Not Displayed If the
> Bootstat.dat File Is Compressed found in
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309481, but I didn't get it. If windows
> doesn't start, how do I "access the Bootstat.dat file, and then click
> Properties" ... etc?
>
> I saw a posting in this forum touching this subject saying that if windows
> doesn't start, press F8 and start in safe mode with command prompt. I
tried
> that too but it just lead me to the "apology" again. When from the
original
> screen I enter "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" it lists a bunch of
commands,
> but gives me no prompt. It then goes into the sequence of events already
> described above.
>
> So now what? I do have my Operating System CD (Microsoft Windows XP Home
> SP1a), but first I'm not sure how to use it, and worse I'm concerned about
> losing any data that I haven't recently backed up (about 2 weeks but
> unrecoverable). I'm hoping that would be my last resort.
>
> Unlike other similar posts that I've seen, XP is my original OS, not an
> upgrade, and no other problems occurred prior to this.
>
> Any help would be fantastic.
>
> Thanks,
> Maria

Sigh . . . today seems to be the day for not backing up files.
I'm still thinking about the OP of the parallel thread who
sounded really, really, REALLY desperate but who appears
to be so centred on his own problems that he does not deem
it necessary share his solution with the rest of the world.

This link might solve your problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?id=310396

If it does not then you need to get your important files
off your laptop. There are several ways of doing it safely,
and several to do it unsafely. Reloading WinXP is not a
safe way - if you select the wrong option then you might
lose the lot.

Post again if you need more details, and let other readers
know if the above link works!