Boot problems w/ xp I have a hp pavillions 533 w computer that hangs at the blue windows xp screen is there anyway i can fix it without restoring the disk. at first windows wouldn't boot because of a system file missing i fixed that and it started to boot and then this happend i want to save all the files on the computer though

Depends entirely on what the missing/corrupt file is and why it went missing/corrupt. Does the hang occur before or after you select which user account to log into (if you're machine is set to auto-logon, then: does the hang occur before or after the "loading your personal settings" msg appears?) And (more importantly): Can you log on normally in safemode? As general troubleshooting suggestions, try the following in the order provided (some or all of these options will NOT be available to if all you have for a Windows XP CD is a set os useless HP recovery CDs - or (even worse) a hidden "system recovery" partition on the hard drive. I will denote steps that require a genuine Windows XP CD with an *. If you can't boot to safemode, then ALL of the following steps will REQUIRE an XP CD) Stop once you're system is booting propperly again: 1) Run 'chkdsk /r' from a command prompt or the recovery console(*). 2) Use system restore to roll back to a couple of days BEFORE the last day that your computer booted propperly. You can do this ONLY if you can boot to safemode. Otherwise, proceed to step 3 (which is basically a manual system restore). 3*) Perform "Q307545" from start to finish. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];307545 4*) Run a repair install of Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341 If you're not familliar with the above processes, you may need to look up the articles referenced. Additional articles such as those can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/ and in "Help and Support" on your start menu. Cheers, Zaphod