Reinstalling Windows 2000 SP1

[Guest]

Folks,
My Dell laptop most likely had a virus. Now, when I boot up the computer it
comes up saying no Primary IDE found.

I am told that I can reinstall Windows 2000 and retrieve my hard disk data.
How can I do a reintallation ensuring my old file data are saved in the
reintsalled operating system (i.e. not do a clean install)? Also, could you
please point me to any URLs with step-by-step instructions? Thanks for your
help.

Regards,
Shams.

 

[John John]

If you are getting an error stating that there is "no Primary IDE found"
it most likely is a hardware problem and not necessarily caused by a
virus. Make sure that the drive isn't turned off in the BIOS. Other
than that a cable to the drive may have been knocked loose or might be
disconnected. Or the drive is indeed kaput! Run the diagnostic
utilities that came with the laptop and see what it reports. If you are
unsure about opening and servicing the laptop bring it to a "COMPETENT"
repair shop and explain to them exactly what is going on and
"SPECIFICALLY" tell them that you want to salvage the data on the drive.
They should be able to at least attempt to slave or connect the laptop
drive to a working computer to see if they can salvage the files.

John