Bootable CD with USB HD support?

[Grumps]

Hi All

I have a laptop problem (Acer,WinXP pro) and it won't boot from HD. It says
there is a file missing (pci.sys). No other available boot modes work.
It belongs to a friend. It was working, then she locked it, and when she
returned to use it there was (apparently) a blue screen with lots of writing
on it!
I have booted from a simple freedos CD and can navigate and view files
(FAT32). But what I'd like to do is boot from a CD with USB support so I can
copy the files onto an external USB HD. The laptop was backed up recently
(within a week or so).

Can anyone suggest as simple way of doing this that will not alter the
contents of the laptop's disk as it would appear to be dying.
Ta.

 

[Big_Al]

Hi All

I have a laptop problem (Acer,WinXP pro) and it won't boot from HD. It says
there is a file missing (pci.sys). No other available boot modes work.
It belongs to a friend. It was working, then she locked it, and when she
returned to use it there was (apparently) a blue screen with lots of writing
on it!
I have booted from a simple freedos CD and can navigate and view files
(FAT32). But what I'd like to do is boot from a CD with USB support so I can
copy the files onto an external USB HD. The laptop was backed up recently
(within a week or so).

Can anyone suggest as simple way of doing this that will not alter the
contents of the laptop's disk as it would appear to be dying.
Ta.

Ubuntu is a linux look, but it should work.

 

[Grumps]

Ubuntu is a linux look, but it should work.

Thanks.
I've just burned a copy and it boots fine. I'm now in the process of backing
up.