not exactly sure where this would go so if this is wrong can it get moved to right location?

anyway, i was able to play fine last night but when i tried to play 5 mins ago. As soon as i click continue on the main screen, it just closes skyrim completely out and no error message of any kind comes up or anything. this has happened several times so far.

any idea hwo to correct this or would re-installing it work?

I do not know, you should try over at the Technical Support pages.

What platform are you on?
I guess PC, but words can trick.

First thing to try is to move or archive the most recent save in the list, then see if the game will load. If the last save is corrupted what you described is one of the symptoms.

i will try to load a previous save instead of the most current to see if this will fix it

If the game will not load, then it is trying to resolved the screenshot in the save. So, you may have to remove the most recent save, not try to load an earlier one. But, if you can get to the screen in the game that lets you pick a save, then try the earlier one.

it did work nwith a previously save file. i guess the latest saved file was corrupted

ye it was probably corrupted