Acer Aspire One - not booting

HELP! :(
My Acer Aspire One was on with power plugged in, but battery taken out. Accidentally the power supply was taken off the machine and it obviously turned off (no power).

When trying to start up again after that, i get until where it says "microsoft windows xp" in big letters and the big logo, with the blue bars running underneath. But the bars just keep running and running and it does not get past that.

Have tried turning off and on again several times, and the first page i usually get is a long text page (text below).
But then after that it does not get past the logo and running bars page.


Text page:
***
We apologize for the inconvenience but the Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change may have caused this.
If your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpetedly or was automatically shut down to protect your files and folders, choose last known good config to revert to the most recent settings that worked.

If a previous startup attempt was interrupted due to power failure or because the power or reset button was pressed, or if you aren't sure what caused the problem, choose start windows normally.

(the options to choose are:)
safe mode
safe mode with networking
safe mode

last know good config (your most recent settings that worked)

start windows normally

***

I have tried selecting the options "last good configuration" and have tried "start windows normally". With either option i get to the logo page with never ending running bars.
have not tried the "safe mode " options, as i'm not sure if it will further damage?

All of the above attempts have been with battery in, no power supply.

Any hints anyone?

thanks so much!


Sorry for the non-tech descriptions... not too well versed in that stuff.. ;-)