disk error

my xp pro wont boot because of non-system disk ordisk error. can i download and burn a program on my vista to insert or do i have to buy xp pro again? no back-up disks

 

Greetings, gildaantwine.

First, try these:

Make sure that there's no disk in any floppy or CD/DVD drive - the system may be trying to boot to a non-bootable disk.

Can you access the machine's BIOS? If so, make sure that the hard drive is being recognized.

 

As far as creating a disk, there are many options that may help: TestDisk, MBRTool, and Super Grub Disk are all highly recommended.

 

sorry don't mean to butt in but try this too...http://majorgeeks.com/HDD_Regenerator_d5235.html

 

Please do - I need all the help I can get!

This, however, I'm a little leery of - not necessarily with the program, but with implementing such a software on a machine that may only have boot sector issues.
If we get to a point where we think the drive itself may be bad, then we can start looking at the OEM's diagnostics tools and the Regenerator-type programs.