Long story...

Whenever I tried to boot windows, it would stop at the welcome screen (the Windows XP logo). I looked up how to fix this problem, and found a few different options.

One option was to fix the problem which was CAUSED by a program like MagicISO or Alcohol. Considering I had both of those programs, I thought that MAYBE that was what was causing the problem. So I logged on in safe mode and deleted both of those programs and the virtual drives that I had created with them, but with no success at solving the problem.

Another option was to edit the boot.ini file by adding "/noguiboot/sos/bootlog" to the end to create a boot log which would then reveal the troublesome driver. It would also not show the XP logo at all, and just show the system files which were loading. Once I did that, I then rebooted my computer. This time it stopped loading at the list of system files, and didn't go past there at all. I decided to wait because I figured that maybe it would load with patience. After about 10 minutes of waiting, the computer restarted and stopped in the same place.

This is where I'm at now....
Someone suggested that I use a windows boot disk to boot from there and save my files, and then format my c: drive where the problem definitely was. I can't find my boot disk, so I downloaded the boot file to a floppy disk in an attempt to boot window from the floppy. I inserted the floppy before trying to turn the computer on. Once it was booted, it seemed that the floppy did nothing, and windows didn't boot from it. The screen stopped at the list of system files again.

Someone PLEASE help me!! I don't know what else to do. If I can just access my files and back them up onto my second hard drive, before formatting my computer, I would be happy. I'm really desperate to fix this problem. Slave Drive Tutorial

This will allow you to install your drive in a working machine and copy/burn your data...
Windows does NOT need to be working on your drive for this procedure.
When that's done you will need to obtain an XP CD for a fresh install.

Where did that bootini advice come from BTW ? ?the REASON that i'm posting here at thr MOMENT is because i cant seem to connect to the irc client...

anywho, i successfully slaved my harddrive to this computer. the problem is, is that whenever i try to access my profile to get to my files, i get an "access denied" message.

i figure that i'm past the worst part of my ordeal and that this shouldnt be toomuch of a challenge to fix once someone tells me how.

thanks in ADVANCE,
krimmyTake Ownership of Files or Folders in XP