Problems with and out of System Restore

[#1]

Windws 764 bit Home Premium
I made three attempts to restore system to an earlier date, two in normal mode and one in safe mode. None completed successfully. Could I have done something wrong with the safe mode method?
I then turned of the computer but when I rebooted,as I thought  normally the screen was different. Here is part of forum for illustration, so can anyone tell me what to do both to get a normal screen and successful sys rec? I feel confused as I've managed the latter before.
Later I made another attempt, no luck and also BSOD which was too quick to get codes.

Eeeeelp!   what is going on? I hope someone can, please solve what has happened.

[#2]

You could try a System Restore in Repair Mode or Recovery Mode, I forget what it is called.  That's usually the top option in the list when you press F8 on boot-up: "Repair my computer" (or some such).  It's not there on every machine but you can also access it by booting from the Windows 7 disc.  Ignore any offers to repair your start-up configuration.  Then choose System Restore from the list.  This is better than Safe Mode because there is less extraneous software running.
If that should fail, you are not going to be able to do the System Restore you wanted.  I think this means you have a corrupt file within the restore collection.  Some viruses manage to disable System Restore.  Try crating a restore point manually and restoring to that to prove that System Restore is working (even if not to do what you want).
Your weird screen appearance looks like an unusual choice of font in your web browser.

[#3]

Quote from: ReedRichards

You could try a System Restore in Repair Mode or Recovery Mode, ..... ...... Your weird screen appearance looks like an unusual choice of font in your web browser.

Thanks, a lot to try there!
As to the screen, I am as sure as can be that I made no change. It was OK immediately prior to my attempt in Safe Mode.

[#4]

I don't want to scare you but if your hard drive was failing then there might be corrupt files preventing System Restore from working and a corrupt font might cause your web browser to choose a poor alternative.  Let's hope that's not the explanation.  If you haven't backed-up recently, consider doing it soon.

[#5]

Hi Richard a further bouquet of questions
The computer (Dell Inspiron 560), is under a year old, so what are the chances of corruption in that situation? This afternoon however I did get an error message about a corruption, that suggested to run chkdsk. When I start>run>chkdsk there is a momentary  blip on the screen and then nothing.
SOLVED IIRC with my old XP system there was a progress (?DOS?) screen. Despite no visible evidence would chkdsk have been running, what is  opinion if it would not have been?SOLVED
Somewhere else I read of disabling any antivirus. Recently there have been adverse comments re AVG Free, so a few days back I installed Avira Free. Could that be acting too dictatorially?

[#6]

Unfortunately a minority of hard drives do fail very rapidly.  I had to replace one on a Dell that was only just out of warranty on a computer barely used by a little old lady last year.  Chksdk runs very visibly but only as the computer starts if you are running it on your C: drive -  but you should see a prompt to that effect so it is worrying you saw nothing.  Try from the CMD (DOS) prompt in repair mode.  The quick version is chkdsk C: /f , the full version is chkdsk C: /r
See http://www.w7forums.com/use-chkdsk-check-disk-t448.html for full-colour illustrations.

[#7]

I've seen that kind of display when the hard drive is full. But I think you would have reported if that was the case.

[#8]

Have not got much time today to go in to details,( Christmas Concerts and all that) but have run chkdsk and there doesn't seem anything startling. Looking at event viewer I see some odd errors upon which I may ask advice tomorrow. Running Restore in Safe Mode failed.
Disk has plenty of space.
Edit: snatched time. It was the AV/FW causing problems I think. If event viewer errprs reoccur I'll come back