I didn't read your first post very well, so my reply wasn't usefull. You (and another poster) have all the symptoms of a failing hard drive. If this is the case and you have files that you want to keep on that drive don't fool around with the drive. Put a new drive in, install an OS, make the old drive a slave and transfer your files. If you have your product key, likely someone you know has an installation disk, people don't throw them out, you can reinstall Windows on your machine.
If you already have another computer, just make this drive a slave and move your files over.. That's far easier on the old drive than having to shut down the machine with the power switch.
On the other hand, if you are just missing the files, borrow another computer with the same OS, put the files on a floppy, you may need more than one, at the command prompt type in
copy A:\filename C:\windows\foldername
so that the file is moved from the floppy to windows. Needless to say, you have to use the correct filename with extension and the correct foldername.
Edited by Tyger, 23 June 2005 - 08:15 AM.