computer boot error--urgent help needed!

[calgirl2]

hi!

my computer was attacked by spyware, so a friend came over to help clean out my computer and began manually deleting files based on some forum advice he was reading. im not sure what he deleted, but now whenever i turn on my computer, it says NTDETECT FAILED and the computer keeps restarting, never loading windows. ive tried all the different boot modes and they all give the same error. please help! i cannot access my computer anymore!

i am (was?) running xp on a sony vaio laptop.

 

[__Camouflage__]

Insert your Windows XP CD, and boot from it. Enter the Repair Console, press R for the repair console. Select the drive Windows is installed on, then enter your Admin pass. Use the following repair commands, attrib "ntdetect.com -r -s -h" and "attrib ntldr -r -s -h" When using these, make sure the quotation marks are not used. (Obviously) After that's complete, type exit and let your computer reboot, once powered on, take the CD out, and boot normally. This should work, and you'll be able to use your computer again.

 

[Link68759]

sony vaio, I'm guessing you didn't get your computer with an XP CD?

 

[EricB]

hit f10 to system recover your viao laptop

 

[calgirl2]

that is correct, i dont have a cd. i actually just went into the reformat function during boot and reformatted my C:\ drive (leaving my partitioned D:\ alone). my computer was good as new and i started reinstalling all my other software. after a few rounds of microsoft updates (including one batch that had 60 updates), MY COMPUTER DOESNT WORK AGAIN! it rebooted after install, and now its doing the restarting thing again! there is a brief millisecond flicker where i can read some sort of FATAL ERROR and then it goes black and restarts. however, this time, the windows logo does show up, but thats as far as the startup progresses. PLEASE HELP! i dont mind reformatting again since theres not much to recover except all of my preferential configurations, which are kind of a pain in the @ss to redo....

 

[calgirl2]

oh im so retarded. i cant even remember which F# button i pressed to access the reformat screen. do you guys know which button i press? i know F2 gets me to the bios screen so i can boot from disk, but i dont have a disk.... =(

 

[__Camouflage__]

Most likely F10.

 

[calgirl2]

F10 doesn't load the screen. it only gives the angry "stop pressing me!" beeping.

 

[__Camouflage__]

Alright, during your last install. (Repair) Did you delete the partition that your recovery was on? I know a few people that have done that and got screwed... The Fatal Error could possibly be bad video drivers, I had that and didn't know what it was, reinstalled new drivers and it did fine. See if a friend has a WinXP CD, and use the recovery console from there.

 

[calgirl2]

hm, yes i think the recovery was on C:\ and it cleaned out C:\. however, i restarted my computer many times during various installs, and only after the microsoft update was the startup unsuccessful. i do have a sony vaio recovery cd that i ordered awhile back, but i dont trust my cd drive bc it crashes and freezes a lot, and im terrified of a crash during recovery. but i will try it if theres no other way around it.

(thank you for the help so far)