Can't load Windows XP after trying Rick's 'How To Load XP', I get diff. screen option

[feefee]

Hi, I'm new here and tried your suggestions in 'How to: Repair Windows XP/2000 if you are unable to boot into Windows' by Rick. I ran into a problem in that I get a different screen in one of the early steps.

After I select F8 to agree, I don't get the screen you posted with the option to repair. I get a screen which says "The following list shows the existing partitions and unpartitioned space on this computer." It then lists:

-: Partition1 [FAT] 31MB (29MB free)
C: Partition2 [Unknown] 38139MB (38138MB free)

It also asks if I want to set up Windows on the selected item, or create a partition in the unpartitioned space, or delete the selected partition.

Can I still somehow use your technique to reload Windows XP Home Edition and save the data on my hard drive? I'd appreciate your help in this.

Also, I used the map command in recover mode and it listed FAT16 32MB. (I did not do anything else, such at FIXBOOT, I read the warnings on this site about that)

thanks kindly for your help

 

[Tedster]

if you're trying to recover data, you'll need to REMOVE the drive, and use it as an external drive or secondary drive for now.

once you get what you need, then REFORMAT the drive, REMOVE ALL partitions, then install windows on the C partition after resizing it to the correct size. IF you wish you can create more paritions, I don't recommend it unless your drive is coloassal. (yours is not.)

 

[feefee]

Tried to use this drive as secondary drive but when I tried to access I got an error message that said 'file corrupted and unreadable.'

Local computer store owner then used Easy Recovery Pro 6.03 and did a quick check of this hard drive which revealed a possible physical problem (and suggested I call their toll free number...)

This all started when someone tried to clean my system of viruses and adware.

In your estimation, is my data unrecoverable?

thanks for responding