Win XP application error, cant log in or get to safe mode

[el duderinolebowski]

hi, hope u can help
when i start the pc it loads as normal til it gets to the username selection/login for windows, before that comes up it gives me an error:

userinit.exe
Application failed to initialize properly (0xc000005) click OK to terminate application.

similiar error in taskmgr when i try ctrl-alt-del, and exactly the same when i start in safe mode.
I dont have it backed up so i will probably have to format and reinstall everything. But i have a lot of music and videos i would like to keep, is there ne way of recovering this??

[pam123]

A repair install could save all your music and pictures.
Why not try that first?
Post back if you want advice on how to go about it.

[el duderinolebowski]

yeh, dont know how to do that...
i also cant get the pc to boot from cd at all even after changing boot order and getting the bios to pick up the drive again

i tried installing again using bootdisks but it gave me an error half way through, something like:
file dmio.sys is corrupted.
then it stops and asks me to restart
that might b down to bad bootdisk though i spose

[pam123]

Originally posted by el duderinolebowski yeh, dont know how to do that... i also cant get the pc to boot from cd at all even after changing boot order and getting the bios to pick up the drive again i tried installing again using bootdisks but it gave me an error half way through, something like: file dmio.sys is corrupted. then it stops and asks me to restart that might b down to bad bootdisk though i spose

Please post your specs.
You're beginning to sound like a guy with a hardware problem.
The first thing is to check your cables, they've been known to become loose and that could be your whole problem.
Another unfortunate possibility is that your hard drive has developed bad sectors.
In that case it will show up on a hard drive diagnostic which can be run from the floppy drive.
I'm assuming that your hard drive is primary master and the cd-rom drive is secondary master if that's not so it's important info.
Was there anything strange going on with the pc before all this started, clicks, sudden freezes, stuff like that ? Or did the problem just suddenly appear ?
"... and getting the bios to pick up the dirve again." (?)
Your bios should have done that automatically.
What happened here ?
The cd-rom drive has to be running for a repair install and, considering just how intolerant XP is of hardware error that could explain your trouble.
Bad boot disks are certainly possible but with the troubles you're having I would look elsewhere before I considered that one.