downloaded some updates on my laptop, it said it needed to shut down to activate the updates. it shut down but wont come back on. gos to a blue screen saying to start it in safe mode but that wont work either? the only thing that will come up is when you press f2 or f12 right at the beginning, and what comes up means nothing to me? not to good with computors so please use words i can understand! lol cheers

You got a repair disc or your windows install disc handy? You might need to run one of the two to repair or restore.

What version of windows is it anyway?

Phil

windows xp. ill try and find the disc. is that the only way?

the error that comes up on the blue screen reads PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONEPAGED_AREA. if this is any help?

the error that comes up on the blue screen reads PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONEPAGED_AREA. if this is any help?

Could be a memory error, dodgy HDD or even a dodgy driver.

Did you install any new drivers/updates or hardware?

If so it might be worth going in in safe mode and seeing if you make progress.

Try doing a chkdsk first.

Boot off the XP CD then press 'r' to repair.

This will take you into a dos environment and may ask for an administrator password

Then type in chkdsk /r

9 times out of 10 this will work if Windows is failing to boot!

Could be a memory error, dodgy HDD or even a dodgy driver.

Did you install any new drivers/updates or hardware?

If so it might be worth going in in safe mode and seeing if you make progress.

I have seen this when having an USB storage device plugged in at boot on occasions too.

everything is back on but cant serch the internet? the tool bar wont work? can only get on the web page if i set it as my home page?

the exact wording is reqested lookup key not found in any active activation context

I might have misunderstood your post - but based on what I assumed (so most likely wrong!);

Can you 'ping' stuff?

I think this is right for XP;

1. go to start
2. 'Run'
3. Type 'cmd' - hit enter
4. type 'ping www.google.co.uk' (try a few websites)

You're looking for it too say 100% success ideally.

Have you tried another browser, such as Firefox, or Crome.

Firefox; http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/products/download.html?product=firefox-3.6.13&os=win〈=en-GB

Chrome; http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html?installdataindex=nosearch&hl=en-GB&brand=CHMA&utm_campaign=en-GB&utm_source=en-GB-ha-emea-uk-bk&utm_medium=ha

Could be winsock has gone belly up.

Could be a virus...