as long as you left it there -  I would probably try to restore the system to a date prior to doing the updates with the utility on your computer 

Load up the recovery console and do a system restore if you cant do it in safe mode.

I tried booting in debugging mode, directory services restore mode, and the last known good configuration and none of them worked. I still get the aforementioned error. I have the ole32.dll file written to CD-ROM, if only I had some way of accessing the C: drive I could theoretically replace the damaged one with the good one from my system.

You can access the c: drive using the recovery console. The recovery console resides on the win xp cd. If you dont have one, provided you still have an active warranty dell can send you one for free or you can buy one from spare parts.

once you have your win xp disk. go to support.microsoft.com and they can help you load that file

just boot up in safe mode , go to add/remove programs in control panel ,make sure u have the "show updates" checkbox checked , then remove the update u just installed .

If this doesnt work,you should do a system restore from within Safe mode .

Have you tried putting nothing at all, cause thats the default password

I can't boot into windows at all. Not even safe mode.

Seems also that Dell has seen fit not to include a Windows XP install disk with the rationalization that you will never need to have one, what with the system restore feature and all. So I have my XP disk, and I can get to the password section of the recovery console. But, not past it. As this is my sister's laptop and she doesn't recall setting up an administrator's password, is there a default password for dell machines? I have tried: admin, delladmin, administrator, admindell, etc.

Thanks for your help thus far guys.