Windows freeze, gray screen at startup?

I'm running Windows XP SP2 on my Dell laptop, and a few minutes ago the entire computer suddenly froze. I had to force it to shut down, and when it rebooted it sent me to a gray screen with a single short, blinking line. It has returned to this screen every time after multiple forced restarts. What's going on, and what can I do? I was in the middle of writing a paper when this happened, and my friend's paper is on here as well, so any help would be incredibly appreciated.

Windows freeze, gray screen at startup?microsoft frontpage

It appears that your Windows install may be failing, restart the computer, and continually tap at F8, if that comes up, select "Safe mode" then you may be able to boot into Windows and copy the documents to a flash drive / floppy disk. If that works then you may have to take it to a repair shop.

If it doesn't, then I would advise finding someone in real life who knows about computers, and ask them to extract the files off the harddrive.

If you're not up for that, I would advise taking it to a computer repair shop and asking them to take the harddrive out and give you a CD with the contents of the *insert folder these papers were put in here* on it.

Neither are a nice idea, but you may need to take this kind of action.

Windows freeze, gray screen at startup?windows vista home premium internet explorer

If The PC Won't Boot Pass Windows

FIRST......If your Operating System is Windows Millennium,turn on the computer and immediately press and hold down the CTRL key.Once the startup options appear,release the CTRL key. Select Safe Mode and press Enter.You are now in Windows limited version.If you know what caused your computer not to boot,you can now either change or delete that program.

SECOND....Repair your Registry by selecting Start,Run and typing "scanregw /fix" and press enter.This will fix any damage done to the Registry. You can also restore your registry which replaces your current registry with an earlier copy that was backed up by your computer.Click on Start,Run and type "scanregw /restore and press Enter.

To repair your Windows 98 Registry,hold down the CTRL key as you start the PC and select "Command Prompt Only".Type "scanreg /fix" and press Enter and "scanreg/restore" to restore a previousely saved copy of the Registry.

If you have Windows XP,press F8 after rebooting the PC should Windows freeze while booting up. You can select "Last Known Good Configuration" after rebooting to allow the computer to boot the last backed up files.And you can choose "Safe Mode" to remove any files you know caused the operating system to hang up.

Be prepared when your operating system fail. It would be a great idea to go over this article a few times and print it.Make yourself s notebook and place this and all related articles there.

If your computer fails to boot or begins to become unstable,you can refer to these articles to make corrections that are needed.Learn these steps from your television set with the PC Super Pack at http://www.ultimatepcrepair.com

Be sure to note any changes you make to your Registry and if you're not sure,its best to find a friend that's pc savvy first.Above all,be certain you back up your registry before making any changes and know how to restore as well.