Where to start?

[Carlos026]

Ok, i'm a laptop user and my drive won't work. My laptop froze and i had to turn it off by holding the power buttom down for some seconds, thus messing up the hard drive.

I turn it on and a black screen with the option to either start windows in DOS, SAfe Mode, or start Windows normally. I've chosen start windows normally and it will continue to the WIndows XP loading screen and after that it turns black and stays that way. So my question is how will i be able to use ZAR it if i can't access Windows?

[Alexey V. Gubin]

I turn it on and a black screen with the option to either start windows in DOS, SAfe Mode, or start Windows normally. I've chosen start windows normally and it will continue to the WIndows XP loading screen and after that it turns black and stays that way. So my question is how will i be able to use ZAR it if i can't access Windows?

ZAR does not work if the Windows installation is not accessible.

Typical course of action is to get the drive out of the laptop and attach to the desktop system using 2.5" to 3.5" ATA converter (about $2 at local store), then recover data using a desktop system.

I think that the damage is not that bad. Either attach the drive to the desktop system and just copy data off it, or use the Windows CD to perform the repair of your existing Windows installation (just be careful not to format the drive in process).

[Carlos026]

Thanks a million for giving me hope!!!

[Carlos026]

Ok. I have a Gateway and i also have a disc that came with it (OS disc).
I've been reading this article below but my disc takes me to system recovery and it doesn't follow what's stated on the article.How do I repair the OS?
Is there something wrong with the disc?
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/instxprepair1.htm

[Alexey V. Gubin]

The hardware vendors may put variuos things onto CDs then ship as a part of the system. General advice is of no good then, because the instructions typically refer to the original Windows CDs, not the vendor-modified ones.
You need either

a Windows installation CD (the original one, not the Gateway's modified), and proceed as described in the article you referenced
to remove the hard drive from your system, put it into someone else's system, copy data off the drive, then put it back and reformat/reinstall using a Gateway CD.
to call Gateway support and ask them how does one perform the repair of the operating system without deleting the data using their CD