'Tis
an easy fix if you've God-Like IT skillz.

But for the neophyte it might seem a bit daunting. However, rest assured that, unless you're a total fuckwit, you *can* get all of your data back.


Rule One. Don't fucking format it. Don't even *think* about formatting it.

The most likely cause is that a boot file is fucked up. This is not too serious and can be easily fixed. All of your programs and data are almost certainly recoverable as long as you obey rule one.

OK. Now the technical details. You need to get a hold of a copy of Hirams Boot CD or the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. Either will do but I prefer the Ultimate which you can get here:

www.ubcd4win.com/

All of the instructions for downloading and burning it are there. If you're not sure how to make a bootable CD yourself and you can't follow the instructions then you're proper fucked and will need to find a mate or someone from work who can do this for you.

Once you have that, insert it and boot from CD. Then you'll find loads of tools that will fix your XP system.

But if you get stuck, ask here or email me for advice but remember rule 1.

Rule 2 is don't use the Dell disk if you want to save your data. It'll probably only have the option to restore the machine back to factory defaults and that means reformatting it which would break rule one.

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask for more advice.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Tue 9 Dec 2008, 6:09, Reply)