Hi, I've been having a problem with my computer that many of you may have heard of before with the "ntfs.sys missing or corrupt" on boot. Safe mode doesn't work either, as is normal with this problem.

I've read many threads on this issue and most say to simply run the recovery console off of the windows XP cd, and rename then copy a new ntfs.sys file. I would very much like to do this simple thing, however, heres what happens when I boot off the cd....

boot from cd, get the black screen saying "Setup is detecting your configuration etc", then it goes to the blue screen you always get when booting off the XP disc where it asks you to press F2 for automated system recovery, then starts loading all the drivers before going to the setup screen. Problem is, it goes through and loads all the drivers, and right after its loading the FAT file system (my guess is ntfs is right next in the list) it pops up saying ntfs.sys is corrupt , press any key to continue. I do this and it says setup has failed, press any key to reboot the computer.

How am I supposed to use the recovery console to repair my file when it doesn't even let me get all the way to the screen where I have the option of pressing "R" to go to the recovery console?

Even better question; I would even be willing to sacrifice all my files and do a clean wipe, but i don't know how to reformat my harddrive without getting to the same screen that i would have had to press R in to get to the recovery console.

Someone please help me out here, I don't want to have to go buy a new harddrive. At least if you can't come up with a solution to the main problem, let me know a way I could create a floppy or something that would let me reformat my drive.