Borrow a Win2000 CD from someone, boot with it, choose the repair/recovery option, and at the command prompt, type "fixboot" and "fixmbr"...sounds like you have a corrupt boot sector. Cheaper than paying the kids at Best Buy who really wont try to recover anything, they will just tell you the PC needs formatted/restored.

Just a suggestion: I have Norton GoBack software on my computer & it has saved me 5 trips to the repair shop by last count. It works by reverting your hard drive to the state it was in before the foulup happened.

Make that 6 trips. . . . . <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Check out KimKomando.com This is just the type of Problem/Question that she commonly answers, -or at least can provide a lot of useful information on.

(For those of you familiar with her. For those not, -She's a Longtime Expert in "All Things Digital", Has her Great Website that I mentioned a bit ago, and Has a very Large and Popular national Radio Talk Show on Comps, the Net, and again All Things Digital).

I've heard her answer Questions very similar to your's, -more than a few times.

There are many Great Downloads (including for Matters like your's) available from her Site. (Often, perhaps even Always, for Free).

Along with some of the Good to Great Advice you've gotten here, (So far I've read every Post of this Thread), -I'd really Advise trying to Check in with her! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]REDDOG79[/email]