MS Update crashed my system

Hello,
After the last MS security issue/vulnerability, I did an automatic update for MS windows XP. No 'critical' updates were needed, but 5 optional updates were there. They seemed to be 'helpful' so I downloaded. (Cannot remember all the updates but one was a Realtek - Network - Realtek Ethernet NIC). All 'updated' successfully, then it started the process of 'installing'. On the last install, it rebooted itself. (It did say that it might need to restart the computer) Well- It never came up after doing that. After about 5-10 minutes, I tried to restart the computer. I got the Blue HP screen with the "press esc to reboot, press F10 to do something and F 12 for something. It quickly changed to the black screen asking to select the operating system- MS Win XP Home or MS Win Recovery Console. It said to use the up and down arrows to select and press enter or to troubleshoot press F8. I am not able to use arrows to select(screen goes black), nor can I press enter (screen goes black), nor may I press F8(black screen).
What do I need to do?- besides get a bigger hammer!
This is a HPPavilion a1410y with XP SP3 (I think). XP Home edition was preloaded and I have no idea if there might be disks that came with the computer or not- I have not found any, though.
I really need to save all info/settings(?) on this HD, too, since it is my elderly mom's computer.
Any help out there? Please?