Forgive me if this is long, here is my problem.. i finish installing hitman 2 on my windows xp pro, and i have to restart my computer. (now here i am waiting for winxp pro to start up) all of a sudden it gives me the blue screen of death! the error is an UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME (0x8278e650 0xc0000185 0x00000000 0x00000000). now im like wtf! so..i got downstairs and i go on my moms computer to look up what the heck is happening to my computer. so i go to google and search my problem, i finally end up at microsoft.com. it tells me that i have to start up my computer with the xp boot cd so i can go to the repair option, (so i do just that!) after the windowsxp boot cd has finished loading it tells me to press r. after that i type in my admin password, and it leads me to a command prompt with various commands that i can use. then microsoft.com tells me that i should type this in the command prompt: chkdsk /r then after when that is done then i should type fixboot (so i do just that!)after i typed fixboot it told me if i was sure to make a partition for the bootsector, and i type yes. microsof.com tells me to restart my computer. now im waiting for xp to start up and...it shows me a different error - NTLDR is missing Press any key to restart. Now im really pissed off! so i restart my computer and start up the windows xp pro boot cd and now im at my command prompt. i type the command DIR..and what do i see? i see NOTHING on my c: drive. Now i know i didnt format my c drive becase on the bottom of the Dir command it says that i have used up 3/4 of my harddrive.. [Now my Question is, How the heck do i get my information back on my C drive so i can start up XP agian!?]

This behavior occurs if the partition marked as active does not contain the Windows boot files or the boot files for another operating system. On Intel-based computers, the system partition must be a primary partition that has been marked as active for startup purposes. This partition must be located on the disk that the computer gains access to at startup. There can be only one active system partition at a time. If you want to use another operating system, you must first mark its system partition as active before restarting the computer. RESOLUTION IMPORTANT: Before performing the steps listed below, make sure that you have a good backup of your critical data files. To resolve this behavior, use one of the following procedures: Try changing the active partition by booting to a floppy disk and then using disk utilities to manually change the active partition: Boot to a command prompt by using a Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) boot floppy disk. At the command prompt, type fdisk, and then press ENTER. When you are prompted to enable large disk support, click Yes. Click Set active partition, press the number of the partition that you want to make active, and then press ENTER. Press ESC. Remove the boot floppy disk, and then restart the computer. Boot the computer by using a Windows XP boot disk.For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 305595 HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition with Windows XP If the partition that has been incorrectly marked as active is formatted in the FAT file system, the FAT32 file system, or the NTFS file system, you may be able to use the Windows Recovery Console to correct the behavior. For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 314058 Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console NOTE: The system partition refers to the disk volume that contains the files that are needed to start Windows (for example, Ntldr,Boot.ini, and Ntdetect.com). On Intel x86-based computers, the system partition must be a primary partition that is marked active. On Intel x86 computers, this is always drive 0, the drive that the system BIOS searches when the operating system starts. Using the Recovery Console, copy the Ntldr file from the Windows XP CD-ROM to the root directory of the current active partition. Follow these steps: Start your computer by using the Windows XP Setup floppy disks or by using the Windows XP CD-ROM. At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press F10, or press R to repair. Press C to start the Recovery Console. Copy the Ntldr file from the Windows XP CD-ROM to the root of your system partition by using the following commands, pressing ENTER after each command: Type cd .. to go to the root of drive C. Note that there is a space between the d and the two periods (..). Type the letter of the CD-ROM drive. Type cd i386. Type Copy ntldr c:. Type Exit. If the partition was not formatted by using Windows, you might also need to run the Recovery Console fixboot command to make the active partition bootable. After you can boot into Windows, it is recommended that you use the Windows Disk Management snap-in tool to reset the original system partition as the active partition, and then restart the computer.

one question.. you know were it says: Boot to a command prompt by using a Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) boot floppy disk. At the command prompt, type fdisk, and then press ENTER. When you are prompted to enable large disk support, click Yes. Click Set active partition, press the number of the partition that you want to make active, and then press ENTER. it prompts me how many number of partitions i want to make active, do i just type 1 since i have one OS. becuase i dont want to make a mistake pressing 1 and then it wipes out old partition that had all the files on it.

ok i went ahead and followed the directions. now after i have finished boot the computer with a 98 boot disk to go to command prompt, i type fdisk. it sends me to a menu and i go to the option 'set active partition'. then it tells me: THE ONLY STARTABLE PARTITION ON DRIVE 1 IS ALREADY SET ACTIVE.. then above it, it shows informatoin: Partition: C: 1; Status: A; Type: Pri Dos; Volume Label: ; Mbytes: 9766; System: FAT12; Usage: 100%. now im confused here becuase i have only one partition, but still my drive is empty and when i type the DIR command it shows that i have 12mb of harddrive space when the fdisk menu tells me that i have 9.766 GIGs. Something is masking my harddrive to think that i have 12mb of space. if i delete what is masking that then i probably would be able to see my old files back...i konw that my files are still on the harddrive!!