I don't see a question in there, so I'll assume you want to see if it can be recovered. It sounds to me like during your trip through the BIOS you changed a setting that lost you ACCESS to the HD in the normal way it was used to... That said, AND IF you are very lucky, you may "still" be accessing the HD "wrong" and it might be that any damage you have done might not be too bad... OTOH, if proper access has already been restored, lots of what you have done has likely "hosed" your data and system. The HD should still be fine after a format in either case... If you can provide the proper and correct hardware information, someone from the list might be able to help you set the BIOS to at least "see" the HD correctly. After that, a recovery program might not even be necessary... (More about that below.) You may need someone with good skills -- IN PERSON to look at the computer and see what the BIOS should be set at, and after that is correct, or at least back to what it was when the computer worked (which is not always the same thing), have them do an allocated space recovery with a good recovery program. (I'm thinking specifically of something like Acronis RecoveryExpert Deluxe, but there are others.) Good luck. Rick Glazier ----- Original Message ----- From: Roy Davis My evesham recently started making a noise, I stupidly assumed it was the hard drive which I proceeded to disassemble. I put it all back together and forgot to plug in the power cable, restarted the computer it failed to detect HDD obviously so I started fiddling with the Bios, cant remember what I'd changed had a couple of Stellas and went to bed. Having had a second look I discovered the disconnected power cable, plugged it in and rebooted. 1st I got HDD instant recovery system 6 options all gobbledygook to me, I tried them all and nothing happened. after this it goes in windows failed to start correctly with a number of options including safe mode or last known configuration that worked, or recommended start windows normally. When i try this option I get anotther screen saying checking files on C with option to wait or press any key I've tried both options and the PC just hangs and refuses to continue. I also tried reinstalling XP and got the message 29197 Mb disk0 at Id0 on bus0 on atapi(MBR) C:partition 1 (Unknown) 29188 MB (29188 MB free) unpartitioned space 8 MB Partition is either too full, damaged,not formatted or incompatible format -Set up must format this partition, Format using (4 options) NTFS quick, FAT quick, ntfs, fat, on using any of the options the pc freezes. On restart I get the message Your partition has been modified Keep partition. Then it goes on to HDD recovery analysing disk. Option to install and keep original data Y/N I pressed y got the message Disk error press any key to reboot. The NOSPIN Group has added a new feature on our website, web based bulletinboard for questions and answers: Visit our sister website at http://nospin.com