Turn on computer, images appear on screen. Then they disappear and all i end with is blank screen. You can see cursors. When it works properly i get a screen asking for password.

Try F8, last known good config or safe mode. How do you know when a politician is lying? His mouth is moving.

I tried it in safe mode, and it just did the same. Any ideas on how to get it started again. It's a dell, so i still have all the originals CD's for Windows Vista etc.

Try F8 again, go to a command prompt. Run rstrui.exe to do a restore point. If it doesn't work from there, try your recovery CD. How do you know when a politician is lying? His mouth is moving.

Got the OS to boot up using CD. But lost all photos and files. Any ideas for recovering them ?

Sometimes I use a USB external HD enclosure & connect it to another PC. How do you know when a politician is lying? His mouth is moving.