XP not booting

I have XP pro on a dell. When I power up the pc, the Dell splash screen comes up and the BIOS runs. When that screen disappears I get a blank screen with the cursor in the upper left. That’s it. Nothing more.

I have tried Repairing from the XP set-up CD. No good. Recovery won’t work. Cannot get into Safe-mode either.

BTW: Dell had me run an IDE Diagnostic — it passed, the said it must be software and would cost $159 – I’m unemployed and can’t afford that, let alone a new pc.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks for the assitance.
F