Computer not booting up - regular or safe mode.

Not sure what the problem is but here are the symptoms. I thought I would ask here before trying something on my own and really messing things up! I hope this is posted in the corrected forum.

This is a computer running XP with SP2.

The computer would not shut down last night when I used the usual start/turn off computer/turn off method. I tried ctrl-alt-del to start the task manager. Task manager would not start would not start.

To shut the computer down, I turned power-off / on since the correct method was not working. When I turned the computer back on, I saw the HP set up screen. It was displayed (for about 20 seconds) and then the screen went dark. Previously at this point I would see the windows start up screens and things would proceed normally. I tried rebooting in the safe mode. I got similar results. In the safe mode "SAFE MODE" is displayed in each corner of the screen but nothing else happens. The HDD light does blink briefly while in this mode but the computer just sits there and does not boot into the safe mode.

I installed a 640GB HDD in this machine in May 2009 and have been using it as my primary drive. The old HDD is now the D drive. The computer will start when booted from the old drive so there is a way to look at hte files on the new drive.

I am open to any suggestions you may have.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Could I copy the C;\windows directory from the working drive to the drive that is booting?

Hello,

It won't work. I'm afraid you will have to perform a repair or reinstall of Windows.

a repair shouldn't damage anything however any drivers will have to be reinstalled and your copy of windows will have to be reactivated IE find your product key