Usually when something like this happens, it is because it is corrupted. Possibly because the computer did not shut down properly, possibly because the hard drive is damaged.
I'm guessing the online instructions told you to enter the 'recovery console' from the installation disk. if you cannot remedy the problem from there, the simplest solution is to do a 'repair install.' it is another option you have from the xp installation disk. just select 'repair' from the options that come up when you boot the computer. Follow any onscreen instructions, and if the hard drive is not hopelessly corrupted or damaged, you should be good to go.
if the repair install 'doesn't' work, you'll need to move to the next step, a full reinstall. if you need to get to here, the hard drive is either very badly corrupted, or parts of it are damaged. In this case, when you are selecting where to install the operating system, you will be asked to format the drive. be SURE you select the standard reformat! doing a 'quick' format will only rewrite the partition, it will not check for damaged sectors on the drive. If there is invaluable data on the drive, I recommend trying something other than a full reinstall.
Options here: (you'll need to use a friends computer. the wii can do lots, but it can't burn cd's.)
see if you can access the hard drive from another environment. Look into Knoppix, or BartPE.
Knoppix is a pre-installed version of linux. Doublecheck that the version you are downloading can read NTFS drives.
BartPE is a program that will help you make your own pre-installed environment using your xp installation disk.
Try that, and if you can read your drive from there and recover your data onto a USB flash drive, excellent, but the drive might be damaged beyond that even.
In this case, as a last ditch effort, try a program called SpinRite. It isn't free, but it saved me back in the day, and if your data is worth it, I recommend it.
Unsolved 
