Dying T42 ?Security Chip problem?

[pej2000]

I hope someone can help me with this.

My T42 was acting slow so I rebooted. It went to the first Windows XP splash screen and then went black and never came back. I left it on all night in case I was just not being patient enough.

I tried booting into Safemode. Instead of going black it gets stuck at "Checking status of Security Chip".

I don't currently have the Security Chip enabled.

Anyone have any ideas about this. Somehow I guess I need to just get my data off and reload the OS.

THanks for any suggestions.