User blog comment:Explorer 767/Crappy Birthday/@comment-1024726-20101008121725

Regarding the actual problem...

I just discovered it this morning, actually. The stupid machine was off, and when I tried to turn it on...

...well, it got to this screen saying that a SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE CHANGE might have CHANGED THE WAY WINDOWS STARTS. Then there's a bunch of options for ways I can start Windows: Safe Mode and variations, Last Known Good Configuration, and Normally. I tried Normally. When it hit the Windows XP loading screen, it just blacked out and went back to the beginning.

I tried every single option (except the variations of Safe Mode because I don't know what those do), but it refused to start right.

So yeah. Now I can't access my precious files. Heck, they might even be lost already.