Earlier today my computer wouldn't boot up giving me a "system disk error, remove disk" or something to that extent. After extensive research I found that I should run "fixboot" in the winxp repair to correct this problem. Well I ran it and it fixed everything, I guess... But now all the files that were on my C: drive aren't showing up... I'm sure the files are still there but I'm guessing the partition is now messed up. So what exactly are my options? I need to at least copy those files to this computer (laptop) then format. I got a program called "getdataback" but I think I have to be in windows to use it and obviously I can't get into windows. Is there a way I can create another partition without losing what data I may have left on the old one? Sorry for all the questions I'm just looking for any solution =\ Thanks!

Check in the BIOS to see if your hard drive is showing up there or and set the BIOS to auto so your drive will be reconfig.. so the BIOS can read it on boot,if you dont know how to get in to the BIOS do a search on this site.Or set the drive jumper to slave and put it into another PC and copy needed files,and you can get a win98 boot disk use the fdisk to see if you have a partition only can be done using fat32 not NTFS partition. P.S. did you try boot with your xp cd and see what it comes up with.

Hi can someone tell me a bit about Win XP repair ?

what do you mean set bios to auto? I don't understand =\ When I boot with the cd it just brings up the regular win xp setup menu asking me if I want to install or repair.

What you describe sounds more like the actions of a boot encrypter virus. Fixboot would not make your file system disappear. It only rewrites the master boot record so, if your system is there, it will boot. A boot encrypter, on the other hand, can do a number of things. One trick is they move the pointers for the master boot record and they can move the pointer for the file allocation tables [which are what keep track of where all the files are]. The encryper manages the redirection process and everything appears normal but it isn't. After a set amount of time the encrypter "self destructs" and walla your drive doesn't boot any more. Of course the odds are any disks or file transfers transported the virus to its next host. Hackers can do the same with a few lines of assembly code. You can try booting the xp cd and going to a command prompt and doing a dir to see what is there. Otherwise... All fixboot did for you is get your boot back. Sounds like reinstall time and get in the habit of practicing safe computing with virus checkers and firewall software.

unless your hard drive was using drive overlay software such as: ezbios,or ezdrive, then you need to reinstall that using the hard drive utility disk. (this would of been installed if the computers bios couldn't handle the hard drive size)