Can System restore be accessed from boot screen?

[lexilani]

I hope I asked this in the right forum....if not please direct me to the right one and I will repost there.

My son has a Win XP...he was downloading music and system froze. He tried to restart computer and it would not restart....he then restarted in Safe mode but nothing happens...just a blank screen.

Is it possible to get to the system restore from safe mode screen? He does not have his windows cd and longer nor did he make boot up cd's for his computer.

Also I looked up and found that you could click on "start up from last good configeration...I think that's what it said on the screen....but when he tried that..the computer still did not start.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[law99]

I think he can borrow anyones XP CD for a repair as long it is the same, Home or Pro.

[glc]

You have indications that point more toward a hardware failure than a Windows issue. I would use boot media to test the ram and the hard drive.

[lexilani]

Thank you both for responding

He let the black screen stay on with it grinding away and he said about 45 mins later it booted up in safe mode. He then hit normal boot up and the computer booted up normally. I guess he should start looking for a new computer though.
Thanks again.