If your having problems with Windows system recovery try out the following tips. They were useful on a Windows XP computer, but certainly can be tried out on Windows Vista and 7 machines.
You can try booting into windows safe mode by hitting the F8 key after the BIOS screen flashes and before windows tries to boot. In the windows safe mode menu select “Start Windows with Last Known Configuration”.
If that doesn’t resolve the issue try booting into safe mode again only this time select “Safe Mode with Command Prompt”. Once in safe mode a black window with a command prompt will open up and type “fsutil dirty set c:” without the quotes. Reboot the computer and allow chkdsk to run completely.
Another option is to perform a repair installation of windows xp. You shouldn’t lose any data, however some of your windows settings might be changed. Boot from the Windows XP CD.
Do not choose the option to repair an XP installation using Recovery Console when prompted, choose the option to to set up Windows XP now press ENTER. After more files have been copied, you’ll get another selection screen where you should select the current XP installation and the option to repair the selected Windows XP installation, press R. Check out the short microsoft repair windows xp tutorial, showing you how to perform a windows xp repair installation.
