I'm having problems with my old Dell Vostro 1400 laptop. I was transfering some documents from my external hard drive onto the laptop. After I was done i restarted the computer. Now when I try to boot up, even in safe mode, it doesn't get past the windows loading screen. A blue screen full of text flashes for a second and then it restarts.

I've tried booting from the XP reinstallation disk. Each time, after it finishes with the windows setup screen and says that windows is starting at the bottom, it goes to a blue screen error screen (stop 0x0000007E or something like that) and says windows must shut down to prevent damage to my computer. This happens before it reaches the screen with the install and repair choices. I want to try chkdsk /r, but i can't even make it that far before it crashes.

I know memory is not the problem. How can i run a disk check or any sort of repair/reinstall?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. I've tried looking at other threads/forums, but most suggestions involve reaching the install xp/repair choices screen.

See How to recover your folders/files when Windows won’t boot

You might at least be able to recover your personal stuff if you can boot from a Knoppix CD