PC won't start up

[davetuc]

My dad's pc has suddenly developed a fault on start-up. A message appears after the 'Windows' screen, (white writing on blue background) saying the following:
"A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down.
Disable or uninstall any anti-virus, disk defragment or backup utilities. Check hard drive configuration and check for any updated drivers.
Run CHKDSK/F to check hard drive corruption and then restart"
We then cannot do anything. How are we supposed to run CHKDSK if we can't open any programs?
Desperate for help. Any suggestions?

[sarah_louise]

Try pressing F8 as soon as the computer starts up to go into safe mode or DOS.
At the C:> prompt type chkdsk/ f
f means fix

[sarah_louise]

You need to wait for your BIOS to finish loading and just when the black
Windows XP boot screen with the load bar animation appears that is when
you start tapping F8 until your machine beeps. Then you should get a
menu that allows you to select one of several Safe Modes.

Tap vigorously. Start tapping even before the boot screen appears. You
only have a few seconds.

[sarah_louise]

What you are getting is the BSOD (blue screen of death). Make a note of the error number and using another PC do a google under BSOD error Codes.

[sarah_louise]

There should be a space between chkdsk and the /i.e chkdsk /f not chkdsk/f.
If you have problems just type chkdsk and press the ENTER key.