boot up help

I have a friends compaq presario 2500, it was working ok, but now will not boot. (window XP home).
I have tried pressing switch and waiting for first screen, then push f8 to get into the menu of various startup options, i have tried all with the same result. the computer will start with SAFE in all four corners then go to Windows XP screen and just hang.
I have tried booting with xp cd also, tried the repair options, fixboot,bootcfg, and chkdsk.
i cannot get into the computer to make any changes or try and suggestions i have found on this board, thanks for any insight.

 

You can make a floppy boot disk that will contain substitute bootloader files. It can be used to boot the ailing machine for a test. If it allows booting, troubleshooting measures can be taken to restore the system.

Run the following link to create the bootloader floppy. You may run it from the link or download it and run it, whichever you choose. You'll need a floppy drive and a disk to use for the creation.

Boot the ailing machine with that floppy and you'll be given the choice of either booting partition 1 or partition 2. Normal would be 1 but try 2 if no luck.

XP Bootloader floppy creator.

 

thanks surferdude, but i cant run it from the link, as i cant get anything to come up on the screen to get to the internet. I made a copy on cd and when i tried to use it i got a "this program cannot be run in DOS mode" any other suggestions??

 

You have to run that image creation file on a healthy machine that has a floppy drive and booted into Windows. It will then create a floppy boot disk for use on the ailing machine to provide substitute boot loader files.

 

yes, i finally thought of that and when i did get it to run i have a corrupted partition 1 and a missing dll file on two. I guess it is going to be a total reformat and reload of everything.