[VoteHarryBrowne2000]

Two easy things to check first 1) make sure there is no floppy in the floppy drive (if you have one) and 2) make sure there is no CD left in the CD drive. Your system could be trying to boot from either media. I've done this a few times and am always puzzled for a bit. If this easy fix doesn't help then follow some of the more detailed suggestions. If your system is hosed, I would definitely pay someone to recover the data and not try and do it yourself.

[brbethke]

Ah, we have a winner! This is the first posting on this thread of the correct first step in resolving this problem: "Make sure there is no floppy in the floppy drive and no CD in the CD drive." If the BIOS is set to attempt to boot the OS from removable media first, as is quite common, then a floppy or a CD in the drive will cause exactly this symptom.