SYS files can't load

[FlameAchron]

I sure do have a mess of problems and would appreciate any help:

I am running a P4 3.06 processor with 512 MB ram on Windows XP with an nvdia GeForce 5200FX graphics card. I built my system a few months ago and have been pretty happy with it until earlier today...

I started up my computer and it had an interesting problem. After telling me Windows didn't shut down properly, I selected the option to start windows normally. Now I get another rpoblem: Windows can't find the ntfs.sys file. It tells me to run the reinstallation CD and use the recovery console. So I pop in my WIndows CD, and after booting from the CD and going watching a blue screen for a minute, I get a message telling me that the setupdd.sys file cannot be loaded, adn it is an error of code 4. I try running the computer without it again, and this time it tells me that the pci.sys file cannot be found or is corrupt.

Seems to me that my BIOS can't seem to load any SYS files....

Also, this particular hard drive has been giving me some problems. It seems that sometimes when I turn on my computer, nothing happens. The lights turn on and I hear fans, but nothing else happens, the monitor remains black and so forth. I put this hard drive into another computer (the computer that I'm typing this on) and I got the "windows didn't shut down properly" message, and when I choose "Start windows properly" it freezes. I put in the slave and it works fine in my backup computer, and has the problem stated first only. I know this is not a major issue, seeing as I can just reformat the HDD(though I'd prefer that to be the last option.)

Anyway, my main problem is the first one, and because I'm not sure if this problem is hardware or software(it could be either or both) I decided to put it in this forum.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me on this major issue.

[icecube]

Find the brand name of your hard drive and go to the manufactures web site and download their hard drive diagnostic tool. If its a Western Digital, they usually include one with the drive when purchased--its a bootable floppy.

Run the diagnostic, it should be a non intrusive test so you won't loose anything.

Not being able to get into recovery consol does not sound good--that should be a straight shot and from there a clean fix. see MS link

Run the disk diagnostic first, and determine if the drive is going south, If it is, you might be able to recover data off of the drive if it is not kept powered up.