Need help ASAP - nvata.sys missing or corrupt

I need help ASAP because I need my homework off of this computer for college, and my professor won't give me an extension!

Windows XP Pro on a custom rig, NVidia/Foxconn C51 motherboard. It didn't come with a restore disc or driver disc for the motherboard.

Windows took a dump when I tried to update NVidia drivers (nothing new to either of them, eh?). Now when I try to boot, I get "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: System32\Drivers\nvata.sys" I think this is the ATA controller for the NVidia motherboard, part of the chipset drivers. I don't know why it would have changed, but now I can't boot even into safe mode.

I tried a repair install, didn't work. I tried "copy c:\windows\repair\system" to the missing file - 1 file copied successfully, still didn't fix the problem.

If there's a way I can tell Windows to use the default chipset drivers just so I can boot into safe mode, I can fix the rest myself. How can I do this without completely wiping out my registry?

Thanks!

 

Got to Part 2 here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

I can now boot to safe mode, but my user accounts all appear to be missing, and the Administrator account won't let me log in with no password! I had no password, and neither does a default WinXP install. What's going on??

 

If you are in a hurry get a Linux Live CD like Linux Mint it will load up to a Windows looking desktop and give you access to all your files on the Windows partition and let you copy them to USB flash drive or may recognize a printer and let you print them out. It should come with OpenOffice if you have to edit the files as well as FFox for internet access.

The i386 cd should burn to a blank cd as an image file using ImgBurn with no problems. http://linuxmint.secsup.org/stable/10/ **link is to a download mirror that is FTP which will take a minute to load. Or main site http://linuxmint.com/ which is also having difficulties at the moment.

 

Thanks. Files are encrypted but I should be able to get them back after a repair. :/

I reversed the first step above, restored only the system part, and it would let me do a repair install. Repair install ended with "setup cannot set the required windows XP configuration information" which had something to do with HDD order, so I swapped my SATA. Second repair install then worked but it's now calling the root drive D:, 2nd partition C:, and 2nd physical disk is still E.

It looks like it may work because it's running setup. If I have a problem with that I'll start a new thread. Original problem solved... well... a workaround. I hate Windows...