Help please! Reboot cycle/loop problem- all my fault

Resolved question

by VonDrake2 - 12/16/12 11:39 PM

I hope you people on this forum can help - I

love my Windows 2000 computer, but I did a

really dumb thing.

Computer was giving me no problems, still I did

an antivirus scan using Avast, as I have done

over the years with no problem before. However

this time the results showed no viruses, but a

long list of "medium threats" which the program

then isolated into it's chest.

Looking through the list of threats- it seemed

they were not threats at all but some .exe files

of programs I had for years on the computer with

no problem, and many Microsoft files that had

been on the computer for years and seemed

important for the OS to run.

Before the antivirus completed it's scan, I was

warned by a "Windows File Protection" pop-up

message that moving these files could make the

OS unstable, and I very stupidly clicked yes -

blindly believing the antivirus program would do

the right thing (I had never seen that Windows

File Protection" message before- should have

Googled it).

When I realized my mistake and tried to move all

the files out of the chest and restore them back

in place, the antivirus program was unresponsive

and so I closed it and turned off the computer

for the night.

Now starting the computer results in a reboot

cycle/loop. Tried F8 to restore to last known

good configuration, also safe mode - still get

the reboot cycle. Tried putting in the Win 2k

OEM CD (to repair?)
but the computer doesn't boot from CD (probably

from floppy drive), so no success there.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly

appreciated. Can I change the boot order and

try a Live CD or the Win 2K CD? How would I do

that if I can't get on to my desktop? Help

please - Thanks!