Start up problems

[Lost Number]

Ok, it dont. My laptop will not start up. After a few seconds i am redirected to a screen saying there was a problem. I am given the choice of Start Normally, Last Known Good Configuration, and 3 forms of safe mode. NONE work, they all lead to a restart and back to the same screen. This began after it was not turned off properly. Any help, people?

[Samuraid]

Some system files on the hard drive may have become corrupted. If you are running windows XP and have your windows CD available, you can start up the computer off the CD, and perform a repair to your windows installation:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx

[Lost Number]

I take it there is no other way? My disc is temporarily misplaced.

[Samuraid]

It's pretty hard to do so without the XP disc. You could try and find the affected file on someone else's CD and make a Knoppix boot CD.
http://www.knoppix.org/

But you would need to know exactly which files were corrupted.