I have a Compaq Presario R4000 notebook computer. I have had it for about two years and so far have not had any problems with it. Last night I was using Adobe Encore when the program froze, I shut off my computer manually (by holding down the power button) and whenever I try to turn it on now I am unable to.

I am greeted with the error message "We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this."

I am given the options of starting in Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, Safe Mode with Command Prompt, or Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent setting that worked).

None of these options yield any success, so I turned to the Operations Recovery disc.

When I attempt to run the Microsoft Windows XP Recover Console it does not seem to work, and I am greeted by a black screen with "Microsoft Windows XP Recover Console. The Recovery COnsole Provides system repair and recover functionality. Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer." There is a line with the prompt "C:\>", when I type "exit", it quits the console and I return to the blue screen, typing exit seems to be my only option at this screen as nothing else happens.

If I take the route through which I would reinstall Windows XP, it tells me that I have a partition (Partition1) with 95700 MB free (roughly the size of my harddrive). However, to go this route seems to require reformatting of my hard drive, and the loss of data which I would very much prefer to keep.

I would highly appreciate any suggestions you could make regarding this matter.

Cheers.

Go back to the Windows XP Recovery Console (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058)

Log on to Administrator by pressing 1 (as before) the Enter

On the black Recovery Console screen

Type in CHKDSK /P
(a list of commands are available by typing chkdsk /?)

Allow check disk to complete (and fix any faults)

Type Exit to restart your computer

Report back

kimsland i wouldn't recommend the chkdsk option, this is destructive scanning if found any errors. first, it's necessary to copy all data to other PC using USB-HDD module. then, you can install windows.

I definitely do not want to lose any of my data, this is not music I am worried about losing, but very important documents.

How would you suggest transferring my data to another computer? lamo, you mentioned using a USB-HDD module, how would I go about doing this?

You remove the laptops hard drive and place it into a USB caddy and attach this caddy to another computer. Move the contents of the laptop hard drive to a folder on the other computer