If I turn it on normally, nothing happens. The power light is on, but the screen is black.

If I turn it on and hit F8, I get the Advanced Options menu allowing me to go to Safe Mode, etc.

If I go to Safe Mode, select the OS, I get a list of drivers and such and then it stops with the last one being System32\Drviers\VolSnap.sys and then nothing ever happens beyond that...it just sits on that screen.

Hmmm... well it's possible that Volsnap.sys is either a Malware file masquerading as the actual file, which would cause your problem... or your actual Volsnap.sys file is corrupted.

It's obviously an important file, so you may need Recovery Console to check it out. This would be located on your OS installation CD. If you don't have yours, find a friend who does. What Recovery Console will allow you to do is access the file system and delete/copy/etc. any files within the file system.

The best thing to do, albeit the most tedious, is get your OS installation CD and boot to it, selecting Recovery Console when the option becomes available.. then once Recovery Console is booted, (will look like a DOS shell) navigate to the CD drive and locate the Volsnap.sys file on the installation cd.. take note of the path and copy that down. Then go back to your root C: drive and navigate to your windows/system32 folder and delete any instances of that file that are there. Then copy the file from the CD to your system32 folder.

If you end up doing that and need help with the commands, let me know.

Phew...sounds complicated. :D But thanks. I will look for an OS installation CD when I get home, but from I recall, I didn't get one when I bought my PC. That's why I've been digging around the Dell site (in my account) for any options to get a CD or otherwise download things, but haven't found an answer. I'll dig up any documentation I have.

When I was running ComboFix, the last thing that was working before the fatal reboot, it was asking me to install Recovery Console. Since I wasn't connected to the internet, I wasn't able to. Being at work, I was afraid to plug it into the network, fearing I could spread something. Anyway then the reboot prompt came...and you know the rest.

So I'll see what I have at home and ask around for an XP install disc if I don't have it. Thanks!

My itunes wont open. It's really starting to piss me off now :(

I've never used iTunes so I don't know the first thing about it, but my first suggestion would be to re-start your computer.

Is it giving you an error message?
Or is it just not doing anything when you click the icon?

No Windows install disc at home...simply found a cardboard CD from Dell saying something like "no CD required...just do this or this..." so I requested one from Dell. Should have it in 3-5 business days. Better late than never.

Kaleigh:
If restarting doesn't help, follow the steps in this article: iTunes for Windows: Doesn't open after upgrading in Windows Vista or Windows 7

Hey Freebase, I got my CDs from Dell. Is there something specific I should be doing to boot from the CD? I inserted it into my drive, turned off the computer and turned it back on (this is because I have no way to reboot if I'm not already in the boot menu) and nothing happens. I still see the Dell load screen and I can go to setup or boot menu, but if I do nothing, nothing ever appears (just as was happening last time I posted). I get no prompt for the CD. Any ideas?

Edit:
(I just noticed you said "CDs" as in plural. Did they give you recovery CDs or the actual licensed XP installation disk? It matters. If it's the recovery CDs, then disregard everything below unless you want to boot from the first recovery CD to see if recovery console is included... in my experience, it never is. Recovery console is a feature of the Windows operating system... a recovery CD is an installable image. If this is the case, DO NOT select "restore" or whatever other option the recovery CD tells you... unless you're ok with losing everything on the harddrive. If it's the actual XP installation disk, read on.)


Your boot order isn't set so that you boot from CD before booting from the hard drive in the BIOS. You don't have to worry about changing it if you already know how to get to your boot menu. Just go to your boot menu and select the option to boot from your CD drive after you've inserted the XP disk.

After it starts booting, you'll see a blue screen with a bunch of stuff loading from the CD. Let it go through all that (usually takes a minute or two) and then you'll see some options like "press enter to install XP" or something to that effect, and "Press R to enter recovery console". That's the one you want. Press R and a black box will pop up, which looks just like command console. It will ask you to log into the administrator account, and you'll need the password. If you never set a password, just hit enter.

I used to have problems with that step sometimes with it not accepting any passwords, regardless of them being right. If that happens, you'll need another program and will have to do more steps, but the program you'll need can be found on the net as a .torrent but it's a little more complicated because you have to make a bootable CD out of it... so lets hope you have no problems with your administrator password.

If all's well with the password, you'll get a c:\ prompt in the recovery console. When you get to that point, let me know.

Here are the discs I got:

- "Operating System" - Reinstallation CD Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3
- "Application" - For Reinstalling Dell Tolls System Software
- "Drivers and Utilities" = For reinstalling Dell Inspiron Computer Software (device drivers, diagnostics and utilities)

Sounds like the first one is the actual licensed installation disc, right? It's the one I've been trying to use. Haven't read the rest of your post yet...will read after my meeting.