I have a Dell Dimension 2400 , running Win XP and have never had a single problem with it in the four years I've owned it. overall, it's been a great machine, I must say.

however, the other day, I was surfing for jobs when it froze-up.

I turned it off, then back on and recieved a "blue screen of death" with UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME, claiming recently installed hardware or software is not working properly it then goes on to say I should start it safe mode. it takes FOREVER just to get it to actually boot in safe mode. I have even inserted the OS disk to try to repair, but get absolutely nowhere. I have not installed any hardware or software in ages on it and I'm at a loss what to do, as I have close to 40 gigs of music on it, half of which I cannot replace.

I finally got it in safe mode and am running AVG anti-virus currently.

any suggestions should the virus-scan turn-up nothing?

thanks