boot problem

my mate's laptop just suddenly crashed, and when we rebooted it, it says it can't find the OS. Normally, we'd just re-install everything but there were some important files on the HD. is there any way to recover this? I'm not sure a boot disk would work, since the computer can't find the OS. he was running windows xp.

You should be able to do a repair install from your XP Disc.

Not finding Xp would be a hard drive problem, the boot disk should load fine and you can then run a repair install. To do this, Hit Enter to install windows like normal(not recover consol) Then F8 to agree, after that pick the partition Windows is on and hit R. Also you will need to have your CD drive set to load before your Hard Drive in the Bios. Other then that you can try a manual repair where you hook two drives togather and copy the Windows Files from the working on and replace the ones on the broken drive, though if you do this don't expect Windows to work well for long.

Insert your XP CD, and boot to the Recovery Console. Type the following commands (hitting ENTER after each)...

Attrib -H -R -S C:\boot.ini
Del C:\boot.ini
BootCfg /Rebuild
Fixboot
Fixmbr
Exit

This MSKB article describes the installation and use of the Recovery Console...

HOW TO: Install and Use the Recovery Console in Windows XP (Q307654)

will this work even if it's not the XP cd that came with the laptop? my mate lost it but we have another original.

Yes, any XP CD will work just fine for booting to the Recovery Console.

as soon as the XP Home cd loads, it takes you to the windows setup and then it immediately loads drivers, after which it gives you a choice on where to install windows. there is no welcome to setup screen like it says in the article. i'm guessing these are the steps for XP pro. how do you get to the recover console with the Home edition?

You access the RC in XP Home the same way you would with XP Pro. Check down at the bottom of the article I linked you to...

APPLIES TO
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Click to expand...

The RC can be accessed by booting from the XP CD and selecting the repair option on the first setup screen. It'll say press R to access the Recovery Console or ENTER to continue setup... to load the Recovery Console Press R. Here's a site w/ pictures...

Recovering Windows XP using the Recovery Console
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/wxprcons.html

the laptop won't even load the XP cd. it gives you a message that hte cd is checking the hardware of the PC and then just gives you a blank screen. the HD makes funny noises too, a kind of clacking sound.

is there a way to disconnect the HD and hook it up to another laptop just to get the files? the model is SONY Vaio VGN s150.