[Tomato]

recover my data? I have the recovery disk, but does not work, the only thing I get when I turn on the pc is os missing.. I tried the F8, the only one working is F1 (BIOS)What can I do?Thanks!When I tried the recovery disk, nothing happened!!! it sounds like is reading, but the monitor is black with the message "operating system not found"Thanks for your answers.My recovery disk is a "HP application recovery CD (2)" not a floppy, what should I check in BIOS ?I really would like to try something before taking my PC for repair (I have had the pc for many years, and filled out my income taxes, made payments, etc) and I am not sure how the repair store will handle my private information....

[farplaces]

First check your BIOS to be sure the computer reads from the floppy disk first...the recovery disk. Be sure to insert the floppy disk before you turn your computer on. Do not change anything other than that if need be.If that does no better for you then look close to your motherboard CD to see if WIN 98 is included on it. If it is then remove the floppy disk and insert the motherboard CD and see if it will re-load.If it does not reload then remove the motherboard CD and insert the WIN 98 operating system disk. Be sure to have the WIN 98 registration number handy as well.Many versions of Windows will re-install and save existing files it stumbles on during a re-install but you can be sure your address book will be lost if using outlook express.This appears the only and last alternative that has worked for me several times in the past.There are a few other things that can be tried but I feel them too indepth for you and would only confuse you more. You might have to bite the bullet and have a service store attempt to read into your hard drive as they are better equipped...