Expert: Mike Dacre - 6/29/2009

Question
DAUGHTER HAS AN ACER ASPIRE ONE USING WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION AND WHEN SHE TURNS ON HER COMPUTER IT WONT BOOT PAST WINDOWS SCREEN. THERE IS NO HARD DRIVE AND ONLY RECENT DOWNLOADS WERE GAMES FROM IWIN.COM. WE HAVE TRIED F2 AND F12 ON THE BOOT UP AND SAME RESULTS .. STUCK ON WINDOWS SCREEN.  ANY SUGGESTIONS?

Answer
Hello,

You should try pressing the F8 key right after you turn the system on.. press F8, F8, F8  until you get the boot menu at which point, try using SAFE MODE by selecting it with the arrow keys and the enter key.

if you can manage to get in to safe mode, then you might want to try a simple restart to see if that resets things as it may be due to a failed registry entry on boot up, which may be fixed once you enter safe mode and then restart normally.  If not, you may have to perform a windows repair installation, which you can learn how to do this by visiting my website at http://tpsconsulting.com

Click on the TIPS link and then read the VARIOUS WINDOWS XP TWEAKS as this will explain how to perform a windows repair which is basically reinstalling the windows system files over top of the corrupted ones, without needing to perform a full reformat and install, which would mean reinstalling all of your programs.  

If this seems to be too overwhelming then I suggest taking your computer to a tech expert who can first back up your data before attempting any major repairs.

Once you do get things working again, I suggest revisiting my website and this time read the TIPS page on oPTIMIZING your computer and then go to the software/support page where you should install all the programs from the PINK section as they will help with the cleaning/removal and ongoing maintenance from the malware/spyware issues that cause so many problems and slowdowns, including the problems you are currently having.

Hope this helps,

Sincerely

Mike Dacre
http://tpsconsulting.com
follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/tpsconsulting