My brother was messing around with my computer one day and when I went to go do some homework on it, I found that my computer was screwed. As soon as I turned it on, there was a black screen with white writing saying that I had some things missing and that it could not boot up. Below that, it said something like "c http:// c". I knew that I should probably reformat the hard drive but I lost the disk that allows me to do that. I have no idea what to do and I have many important files saved on my computer! HELPPP!!!!! (I have an HP Pavillion model 6540C)

You don't need to format yet. Try booting into Safe Mode by holding down the F8 key at boot up. If you're successful, try a system restore. Good Luck..... Keep Smiling It makes them think you're up to something...

LOL....good luck trying a system restore, the poster has no idea what OS is on the machine. Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back with your results....thanks

and if all else fails you could still probably get your files by removing the drive from the computer and connecting it to another computer as a second drive which should allow you to access everything on it. (depending on format type and windows version on the computer you connect it to)

I think that removing the drive is beyond the user's ability. A live linux CD like SLAX however would be better. Put a USB flash drive in a USB port and boot from the CD, copy your important files to the flash drive, then try to correct the problem. If a reformat is needed, at least you still have your files.