help PLEASE: eMachine / restore WindowsXP

[DaveZ]

help PLEASE!

i deleted some system files on my computer, an eMachine with WindowsXP
Home Editon, and on retart i got a messages saying "NTLDR is missing.
ALT CTL DEL to retart", for example. a restart only takes it back to
the same message.

i put in the eMachine restore CD and restarted it. i got 2 options. 1)
restore
Windows, but all data on my hard drive will be lost. 2) boot to A:\
prompt, which is set to my CD-ROM. no other drives are recognized.

i don't want to go with option 1), because i want to keep my datat on
the hard drive. with option 2), i don't know what to do in order to
restore Windows and keep the data at the same time.

help/advice/suggestions are all welcome!

thank you all very very much in advance!

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Check your manual and/or contact EMachines.
The specifics of that CD are their design and not typical of retail
Windows XP.

 

[DaveZ]

I've checked the manual already. There's not much in there, except
simple steps about how to restore Windows to the machine's purchase
state, i.e. losing all the data on the harddrive.

I've called eMachine support line. They charge $20 per incident, and
there is no tell whether they have a way of restoring without losing
data. So I didn't go that route either.

I've also emailed their support. So far no reply yet.

But from reading the groups, some one has received eMachine's email
reply on this, and what they said is "there is no way of restoring
without a retail copy of Windows." Well, I do have a retail copy of my
own. Does any one know the details on how to do this?

I also downloaded from Microsoft's site the 6 setup/boot floppies.
Booting up with them, I got to the Repair Console. There is an install
option, which i suspect will reformat C:\. Another option is to repair
the system, which did chose. Then it warned me on "are you sure you
want to create a new bootsector?", and i'm not sure on that, fearing
i'll lose a good restoring point that might be useful. Advices on what
are the following steps in this option, and the possiblity of
restoring with either eMachine's CD's or a retail copy, plus the
detailed steps in doing so, will be really really appreciated!

- dave