my xp laptop won't start

[Cool_Katie]

Hi my Laptop freezes on powerup before you get to the screen with the usernames on it. It does this even if started in safe mode I can see the Laptop on my network and have copied off everything from the shared directory the first time this happened i had a message from norton antivirus 2000 telling me my subscription had run out. looking at symantec site they say antivirus 2000 is not compatible with xp - OK fine i should have not installed it on XP just because i had a paid & maintained copy for my old PC - but , if this is the problem - how do i get the xp to the point where i can uninstall software. any help greatly appreciated thanks dave

[j2buttonsw]

I think NAV is a red herring: after all you have been running it long enough for the subscription to run out. Once the subscription runs out you only lose the ability to update the virus definitions. Did it suddenly stop booting or did you do something just prior to it misbehaving? Safe mode is the best way of uninstalling rogue software but if you cant get this then the next step is to use the recovery console which entails booting up from the XP CD. More info here: http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprcons.htm