Unable to get on the computer.

[CodeKyuubi]

Okay, this is how it went. A normal school day, as usual. I turn on my computer, all is fine, until after the loading screen but before the start menu comes and devices load, a pop-up appears.

"WindowsBlinds has expired. Click Buy Now to buy the full version."

For the sake of just leaving it there to uninstall later, I press Continue. That's where the problem starts. The start menu and devices don't load, and I'm stuck looking at a background for 10 minutes. Pissed, I turned the computer off and turned it on again.

This time, I couldn't even get to the Windows XP loading screen. After the HP screen comes up, everything turns black and freezes. I'm using Windows XP Media Center, by the way.

Anyways, further pissed, I enter the Advanced Boot Options and select Safe Mode. It loads up to the system.log file, then freezes. Undeterred, I try it with Networking and Command Prompt, same result. I try the 'Boot using Last Good Settings', but I get the same Black screen as a normal boot.

I've tried a lot, not everything, but plenty. I'm not at all computer-smart, so I don't know how to do this by myself. Can anyone please help me? I know there's always the choice to wipe and reinstall everything, but that's a last resort.

Edit: Oh, and this isn't relevant to the current topic, but whenever I restart my computer, my sound drivers disappear, and I'm forced to reinstall it every single time I reboot. A solution? I know people who downloaded the driver, installed it, and that was that, but the problem is recurrent in every reboot.

[SKULLZ1987]

When you see the HP screen Keep pressing either the "F2" key or the "Delete" key to get into the BIOS. Once there have a look around to see if the BIOS is detecting your HDD.

If it hasn't then you might need to invest in a new hard drive.
If it has then the operating system might have become corrupt.

To fix that insert the XP CD go though the setup stages until you come to a screen that says "searching for previous installation of windows XP" and then do a repair.

[pip22]

I suggest you post on the forum for all WindowBlinds users as you're more likely to get help with it there. You say the sound issue isn't relevant to this topic but it may be. WindowBlinds may be affecting it. I would say WindowBlinds is to blame for your PC not booting. It can't be just a coincidence that the "WindowBlinds has expired" message appears at the same time as your PC problem started.

Forum here: http://forums.stardock.com/?forumid=167

[CodeKyuubi]

1. Okay, I have a question. If the computer came with Windows XP Media Center Edition, but I have a Windows XP Professional CD, will the CD fix the problem, as Media Center is like XP, except it deviates on media?

2. Also, I can't seem to find the Bios button for my computer. I've done 'Del', and nothing happened. F10 is set-up, and F2 is Boot Order. I went to a site and it said that for HP Laptops, the Bios button was 'Esc'. I pressed it and it sent me to Boot Order.

My friends have searched the WindowsBlinds forum, but they only found a situation where a normal boot wouldn't work. The person went into Safe Mode and removed WindowsBlinds from the Startup list so that he could boot normally and remove the program, but it doesn't say what to do if you can't even boot in safe mode either.

If number 1 is discovered to be able to work, I'll repair it that way.
If number 2's button is found, I'll look around the Bios.
If both numbers 1 and 2 don't work, I'll have to use that System Recovery Disk that came with the computer. Unfortunately, I don't want to wipe everything.

Edit: Oh, and I can't post a help topic on Stardock, because it won't freaking validate. I've gotten the e-mail 3 times, each time clicking the validation link, to no avail.

Edit2: Oh, F10 was the Bios. It just read set-up at the HP Logo.

Update: I've gone to HP Support, tried re-seating the memory, but that didn't work. Right now I'm scanning my hard drive.

[SKULLZ1987]

If you use a XP Pro CD instead of XP MCE to repair your XP MCE Installation it will totaly mess the system up. If you don't use the Media Centre part of it it MIGHT be ok, but i wouldn't advice it!

One thing you could do is use the XP Pro CD to get into the recovery console to use the 'fixboot' and 'fixmbr' commands.