got some major problems with Xp at the Mo I'm getting the blue screen of death on start up but it disappers so quick I cant read the error code....is there anyway I can pause the screen to read it?

Also I cant get it to load up from safe mode ect just reboots all the time. the easy way would to re-format and reload XP but I've got 80 gigs worth of stuff on my H/d and would rather try and recover XP I've looked on the net and know about the recovery any one got some useful tips?

Try hitting and hold "F5" once you turned on your comp.

As for the error message, you can laugh at this but I think it's the only way. Try to prepare your cam and take a pic of it when it appears :-)

Sounds like you puter has a cold (cough cough). Seriously, don't wipe out your hardrive and reformat yet, until you check for a virus, one of my computers was doing the exact same thing and it had a virus. I had to get new virus software and get it isolated, it was a pain to get rid of it. I wish I could remember the name of the virus to make it easier for you to take care of it. Good Luck!
Patricia

Davy,

I feel your pain brother. Unfortunately there is no easy way to pause the BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) once it is set to reboot continuously. Take a look at this Microsoft knowledge base article. It explains what you need to do to get your system to a point where you can read the error message. Once you know what it says you can then start troubleshooting it. Here is the link http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314466

I am not sure how your system is set up but in the future in might be a good idea to have your hard drive partitioned into two logical drives, C: and D: (or have two hard drives). Then you could keep all your important data on D and your applications and the OS on C. That way if your system ever crapped out on you, you could reinstall it without having to worry about losing important data.

Let me know if this Microsoft article was of any help.

I agree with Patricia,

but before running the anti-virus, make sure you have the latest virus definitions. I would also switch off XP's restore trigger - can't remember exactly where it is. After running the AV, apply SP2 (& SP1 if you haven't alreeady done so). Also, I know it's a real pain in the royal behind, but switch on the auto-update, even if it's just the notification function.