help with hard drive

[lRevl]

hi i just installed ubuntu today because i had a boot error or virus when i turned my computer it came up with

Der Bootsektor dieser Diskette wurde neuerstellt.
. ..Benutzen Sie den DOS-Befehl SYS um diese Diskette bootfähig zu machen!..
Bitte legen Sie nun eine Systemdiskette ins Laufwerk und ..drücken Sie eine Taste.

i was trying to get the files from my hard drive to back them up and try to fix my laptop but when i went to click on my hard drive it would only show one file "file:///media/disk/╪Aá⌡%02.í╞"
i dont really understand im not very good at computers all i really want is my legal files and to fix my laptop so i can use XP again.

your help is greatly obliged thank you

[jadtech]

I think we need someone to translate this to English not sure what language that is but if there is a menu to change it might help you under stand ..
i'm pretty sure you might find its not a virus or boot error but a greeting and a notice about installing ..

the file it shows you I believe is the disk in your CD drive

[lRevl]

According to Google translate that means, "The boot sector of the diskette has been created. They use the DOS SYS command to make the diskette bootable! Please insert a system disk into the drive now and print it one button" and i dont have a cd in my dvd drive im running ubuntu through a usb drive i tried to research this and so far all i have found is that is is a boot error virus that creates a fake boot secctor so i cant boot into windows xp. i dont have a installation disk for xp (pre installed on laptop) so i pretty much suck right now

[DWade]

If your computer has the windows XP key on it, you can use a Live CD and download a windows XP ISO off of one of web sites.

Just Google: windows xp iso. and the version that was installed on your computer (i.e. XP Home SP2 or Pro sp2)

Once you have the ISO downloaded burn a CD and reinstall.

[lRevl]

if i do that will i be able to get my info back and would it fix my boot error virus or would i still have to find out about that after i get on xp?

[wbosher]

You probably don't want to reinstall Windows or you'll loose everything. Try the recovery console first to fix the boot sector.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

User Fixboot and Fixmbr, there are detailed instructions on using this in the link above.

Hope this helps.

[lRevl]

so what you are saying is use a recovery disk to start this then use the fixboot and fixmbr commands to fix this problem, and if it does what about the virus wouldnt it currupt the boot again?

[wbosher]

Yes. When you get a Windws CD and boot into it, it will give you an option to start the recovery console. It's a command line interface and you can use these two commands, it should fix your problem hopefully. You can run a chkdsk from there also.

I would definately try this before doing a complete reinstall, as this could wipe everything.

[lRevl]

but wouldnt the virus corrupt the boot again once i do this?

[wbosher]

If it is indeed cuased by a virus and not just some Windows glitch, then you should run a virus scan once you can boot back into Windows.