[Al Skierkiewicz]

First off, I have an aversion to wiping a previously working copy of anything to fix an unknown problem. If you can't get to a safe mode it is possible you have contracted a virus. If so, the virus is producing the error message or it has damaged needed boot files or the boot sector of the drive in the process. You just don't know at this point. I would check the virus sites and see if any of the newer viruses have this signature and what it would take to fix it.
I am guessing that you have tried the F8 during the boot sequence to get to the "choose operating system" text screen and that is not working, correct?