Today while i was browsing the net my comp froze so i restarted using the power button. When i restarted i got the error message "Operating system not found" also the HD busy indicator was constantly on. I tried to start windows of the win XP cd but i just get a blank screen with the busy led constintly on. Also i tried to access the harddrive through another computer but when windows starts the busy led is constintly on (never stoped) that comp aswell and i can't see the drive through 'My Computer' but when i go into the bios settings i can see the drive. Anyone know how i can access the drive again? i just need to get the data that was on the HD back. - Info about comp & HD - Comp desc: HP 8637 Athlon 750Mhz 128mb sdram Harddrive: Maxtor 20 gigs (not original HP HD)

try looking for a 'clear cmos' jumper on the motherboard. move it to pins 2-3 for a few seconds. then, put back to pins 1-2 see if that helps

When you put the drive in the other computer, you say it can be seen in the BIOS, so see if you can get it to be recognised in DOS and then copy folders from it onto the main drive whilst you still can. "I know that I'm mad - I've always been mad..."

when you say "I tried to start windows of the win XP cd", did you change boot order in setup to boot fom your xp cd? if not try that then choose install, then repair.

I have tried the following things but still having the same problem. - Change the CMOS battery - changed boot order to 1. CD Drive 2. Floppy disk drive 3. Harddrive I installed a new HD and it works normally (goes to WinXP setup when i have the setup cd in drive unlike the other harddrive) Anyone still got any ideas how i can get the data back from the HD?

- UPDATE - I tried using "NTFS Reader for DOS" but it shows the HD as being 'unallocated' ???