Hey, ok I'v had problems for a while now with XP, I'v deleted a bunch of stuff I shouldnt have, anyways I tried going through the repair for XP , it went through and instaled it, but now when it boots up i get a stop error, I have alot of data I dont want to loes here, when i put my HD in as a slave it shows 2 partions, the one that was the c: drive I can access no problem and see all my stuff the other one i cant access it says " F:\ is not accessible the parameter is incorrect" (I had stuff on this partion too but not alot so its not a huge loss to me) so does that mean that partion is probley scrwed? and would that be causing the HD drive not to boot? Is there anyway to fix it? can i do a fresh install of xp but not format would this prevent me from loesing my data, please any help would be great i'v been working on this for a while and i reallty really need to get it fixed, if you need somthing about my problem explained more clear just let me know, its kind of a confusing post, Thanks ppl

just to add to that if there was a simple way to back up all my stuff and format everything I would do that, I have about 128 gigs I would need to backup

you could try a parallel install you will end up with two windows folders and possibly be able to retrieve your data. Perform a Parellel Install (Same partition) A parallel install of Windows XP is always a good idea If you are unable to boot into your original install of XP. You can boot into a parallel install to get access to the original install. From the parallel install you can replace registry files, modify registry files, replace bad driver files and so on. A parallel install of XP should only be done to repair your original install. It is not meant to replace your original install. 1. Start your computer from the Windows XP/CD Rom 2. Watch for the prompt to "Press any key to boot from CD" (Loads Files) "Do not use again" 3. At the Welcome to setup screen, press Enter to begin the windows XP setup 4. End user license agreement, Press F8 5. To continue installing a fresh copy of windows XP without reparing press "ESC" 6. To setup Windows on the selected item press "Enter" 7. To continue setup using this partition Press "C" 8. Select the "Leave The Current File System Intact"(No Changes) option, press "Enter" to continue 9. Press ESC to install to a different folder 10. If the Program detects another OS it prompts you to type a name for the new folder after the slash(\), for example you could type \WINXP. if no other OS is detected the setup program automatically assigns \WINDOWS, press "Enter" 11. you will go thru the regular Windows setup, Product Key ETC 12. After repairs are made you should delete the new Windows folder by restarting the computer and booting to the old windows setup. 13. Go to start/Run and type "msconfig", Open "Boot.ini" , highlight the new OS, click on "check all boot paths" and remove the entry for the new windows setup. .

after that is done, any ideas how to repair the orginal OS? before i ran throught the repair, when windows booted u got to the windows xp screen then I would hit the desktop, but no icons would load, start menu wouldnt load, u couldnt get to task manager, it was just a blue screen and u could move your mouse around, now when it trys to load after i did the repair it gets a stop error

What if i deleted the windows folder then tried to install XP again???????

you won't be able to delete the windows folder that you boot into, other than the parallel install have you tried to boot to safe mode, if you can you could try a system restore, other than that you may be looking at a clean install of windows and losing all the data, programs etc. it is so important to back up any data one cannot afford to lose just IN case something happens.

i can boot the hard drive as a slave so i wouldnt be booted into the windows folder, i cant even get windows to but with my HD would it be possible to do a backup with a 2000 machine, then reformat my HD and put XP then do a restore of the backup? would that work going from 2000 to XP?