i figured out the problem, the commandnoexpire is what is causing it to start only in safe mode, basically command noexpire means that the given command will just keep going on infinitely, in this case it is to keep the computer in safe mode all the time and never allow it to boot properly. Now, what i need to know, is can she get her personal data off of the computer before she has to reinstall xp. Since she cant actually get access to her computer, can she remove her harddrive and have someone get the data off of it for her, before reinstalling xp?