operating system not found/reboot loop/data not saved

[maai]

I tried to turn on my computer and it stopped on a black screen with white
letters saying "operating system not found"

I went into the diagnostic center and it passed all tests...

I tried re-booting it and it went a little further in the rebooting process
(to the blue screen that says please wait while windows starts) but error
messages kept popping up saying that data on c:/ was not able to be
saved...c:/system32 was not able to be saved etc...etc...

when you go to close the error messages it just starts the reboot process
again and goes in a vicious cycle...

everything was FINE the night/week etc. before...

I asked this question on a non computer related forum and someone reffered
me to http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310396 I just
want to confirm that this is the correct thing to do as I am a beginner when
it comes to working on computers and dont want to screw anything up!!

I have thousands of mp3's that are not backed up...REALLY stupid I KNOW!!!
But I would realllly love to save them!!

im so confused!

 

[Gerry]

maai

"Operating System Not Found" or "Missing operating system" error message
when you start your Windows XP-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321626

Compare what you see on screen with the information in the next link
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/bios/bootSequence-c.html

Does the BIOS detect the hard drive? If it does it will give details
very early in the boot process. If it does not this can be a failed
drive or a malfunctioning cable to the drive.

If the computer is restarting you should see a Stop Error report. A copy
of this will help with diagnosing your problem.

Disable automatic restart on system failure. This should help by
allowing time to write down the STOP code properly. Keep pressing the F8
key during Start-Up and select option - Disable automatic restart on
system failure. Do not re-enable automatic restart on system failure.

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~