tecknomage

Do you have a WinXP Setup CD that was supplied with your laptop? I do not mean a recovery CD.

If not, borrow one.

Does you laptop have a "boot menu" option during POST? This would allow you to boot to CD. If NOT, get into your laptop's BIOS Setup and set the boot order to CD-ROM, HD (I suggest you leave it that way).

Now:

1. Boot to the WinXP Setup CD
2. At the first window that has a Repair option in the bottom Status Bar, use that to open the Recovery Console
3. At the Recovery Console Command Prompt, enter CHKDSK C: /R
4. Let CHKDSK run then reboot

Hope that works for ya.