Hi. I need some advice. My comp. was a 98 se. I upgraded to xp. Everything was fine then i defraged. I lost files etc,. Now i turn it on... nothing. I put in the boot floppy...nothing. I did change the order of boot up in the bios to 1.floppy,2cd,3hard drive.I did scandisk/all/surface and it did not find any erros. Can anyone tell how i can reload 98. I'll try anything before i have to take it in. Keep in mind i'm computer challenged. I don't know how to start in safe mode or even if i can. Thanks
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Maybe you lost the files in the conversion from FAT32 to NTFS. It's difficult to say with Windows, but if I were you I'd try using a Live CD like Knoppix and at least check whether the files exist or not on the Windows partition.

As you say you're computer challenged, you'll have to learn a bit anyway in this situation (unless you decide to hire somebody to fix it for you) and should probably use this as an opportunity to learn something rather than consider it a crisis.

I agree. This is actually a great chance to learn a lot. As the above poster recommended, use a Knoppix disc to check out the hard drive and see what's there. If I were you, I'd use that as an opportunity to back up any important files that may still be on the computer.

Once you're all backed up, you really could have a lot of fun - especially if you think you're going to have to reformat and start over with Win XP anyway!

For example, you could grab a Linux disc and try installing a brand new distro to your drive (they run a lot better than live discs), play with it for a day, and delete it. You might see something you like and decide to dual boot one day. Hey, if you're going to have to reformat your drive and start fresh, have fun first (and learn a bit, too, at the same time)!