If you cannot even boot into safe mode then there is quite a problem. You can try booting from a Windows XP CD and use the Recover option. You can also try the Ultimate Boot CD - http://www.ultimatebootcd.com - for diagnostic tests.

You can also try Googling for >recover hard disk windows xp< which will return varous disk drive recovery tools in case you need to get data off the disk.


>I hope someone can help me.
>
>I have a client who is having problems with her pc. She gets the error "sorry for the inconvenience but windows did not start successfully.." We've tried all options from safe mode, normal and last known configuration but to no avail. The pc sents us back to that same error message.
>
>No new hardware was installed.
>
>How can we fix this if she doesn't have a copy of the Windows XP boot or recovery disk? Can we create a bootable disk from a running pc using the same Windows XP? If yes, how?
>
>The pc was bought sometime last year with no cds included, she said. It's a Sony Viao laptop. It came pre-installed with Windows XP.
>
>TIA.