Totally corrupted

[Mike]

Turned the computer back on after a power failure during a
thunderstorm and found that nothing works anymore. I keep
getting "Error: Connecting to shell". Norton System Works
won't work, System Restore won't work, Cut/Copy/Paste
won't work, Install/Uninstall won't work ("The Windows
Installer Service could not be accessed..."), drag and
drop doesn't work and the applications don't work
(including the CD burning software).

First question, can I rescue my files? (Pleeeease!)
Second question, how can I reinstall Windows XP (Prof)?

Thanks!
Mike

 

[Andrew E.]

Shutdown computer,on resrart tap the F8 key,select,
start in last good known configuration mode.
If that fails,reboot computer with xp cd installed,re-
install xp,youre files,settings should remain,all up-
dates,wmp9,etc. will need to be reinstalled.

 

[Guest]

Be sure to run ScanDisk with all the options in windows select to fix errors
on your hard drive.