"Coho, it just seems strange that both of your computers would have this problem at the same time, and since the CDs work ok it just seems to point to the DVDs as the problem. I have found that some of the blank cheaper brands of DVDs do seem to have a higher failure rate when they get older. I no longer store anything that I want to keep only on DVDs, but make sure I have copies on external hard drives." As do I. I would much rather send a DVD to Alaska family than my external drve. Guess will reinstall Windows in about 2 weeks unless someone comes up with a better way. Thanks

if it is his regular pc it is windows 2000 I do believe. Shax can you get to safe mode at all? if so you can run malwarebytes in safe mode, it sounds like it could be something from that update that did not agree with your system. I just don't know much about windows 2000. You could try to get a linux live cd and stick it in the cd drive and see if it will boot to the live cd and using it you could at least see your windows partition and save your files. Use Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer Geek to Live: Rescue files with a boot CD oh yes you were using a registry cleaner??? hum well that could definitely cause some issues, do you happen to know if that one you used created a back up of your registry? Not that it will help very much if you can not get to boot.

Here are the instructions from the manual for my Dell: Using Dell PC Restore by Symantec. Use Dell PC Restore by Symantec only as the last method to restore your operating system. PC Restore restores your hard drive to the operating state it was in when you purchased the computer. Any programs or files added since you received your computerÂincluding data filesÂare permanently deleted from the hard drive. Data files include documents, spreadsheets, e-mail messages, digital photos, music files, and so on. If possible, back up all data before using PC Restore. NOTICE: Using PC Restore permanently deletes all data on the hard drive and removes any applications or drivers installed after you received your computer. If possible, back up the data before using PC Restore. To use PC Restore: 1 Turn on the computer. During the boot process, a blue bar with www.dell.com appears at the top of the screen. 2 Immediately upon seeing the blue bar, press (Ctrl)(F11). If you do not press (Ctrl)(F11) in time, let the computer finish restarting, and then restart the computer again. . NOTICE: If you do not want to proceed with PC Restore, click Reboot in the following step. 3 On the next screen that appears, click Restore. 4 On the next screen, click Confirm. The restore process takes approximately 6Â10 minutes to complete. 5 When prompted, click Finish to reboot the computer. NOTE: Do not manually shut down the computer. Click Finish and let the computer completely reboot. 6 When prompted, click Yes. The computer restarts. Because the computer is restored to its original operating state, the screens that appear, such as the End User License Agreement, are the same ones that appeared the first time the computer was turned on. 7 Click Next. The System Restore screen appears and the computer restarts. 8 After the computer restarts, click OK.

"F2 for setup and F12 for boot options." Are you saying you get this far and the computer REBOOTS by itself, if that is the case you start to consider a power issue here. How many files did the user want to save? Where are the 2 recovery disks that should have came with the pc, or does it have a recovery partition that you would have an option for after hitting F12 if you get that far. If you slave the drive run your options scan disk, check disk ect, the go to the manfactures site of the hard drive an run there tests on the drive. I wonder if you can get recovery disks from Dell for the 2400 series?