If you haven't done so already, make sure you've got a backup of all your work, and copies of any non-standard drivers you might need, whilst you're still able to boot to normal mode.

Next, do you have the original boot CD for your OS?
You'll need it to run the recovery console, in order to do this:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=215902
Try fixing the Master Boot Record with FIXMBR, then see if CHKDSK will run.

Failing that, I would guess running the "Repair" option from the boot CD would be worth a shot.

A recovery disk never came with my laptop but would any windows XP CD work if i have Windows XP Media Center Edition?

Yes it would.

Before you try with XP setup CD, try this:

Click Start, then "run" and type regedit

Look for "HKEY_Local_mackine\System\currentControlSet\Control\Session manager". Click on that key and doubleclick on "BootExecute" in your right panel, and copy-paste the contents here.

it says:

autocheck autochk *

Ok, that's what it should be.

There should be entries in your event logs regarding volume errors. You should see if there is any info that could shed some light on what is causing this.

In case you don't see shortcut to your event log viewer in programs menu, change the taskbar and startmenu settings and check the "Display administrative tools"


Also, another aproach is to use Recovery console (XP setup CD) and run Chkdsk from there. It is more reliable than regular one. Also, it has different commandline options. Instead of /f, you'll need to run it with /p option.

Well i looked at the Event Viewer and tried to run the defrager but no error comes up on the event viewer but when i looked at the errors that there were in the event viewer i found that some this couldn't run because the specified drive is invalid

You'll need to be more specific.

Which drives?
And what is your current drives layout? List your drives and drive-letters.
For more detailed layout, rightclick "My computer" and select "manage". In the following window select "Disk management" on your right pane. On your left pane all the drives (and volumes) should be listed with detailed descriptions. A screenshoot would be nice.

Also, copy-pasting the errors you saw in event viewer would be helpful.

I have my local disk C:, 2 removable D: and E: for memory cards and sd cards, i have 1 cd drive but in my computer it shows 2 F: and G:

this is the description of one of the errors: source LDMS
The Logical Disk Manager Service failed while registering for device handle notifications on device \\?\ide#cdrommatshita_dvd-ram_uj-850s________________1.60____#5&8790770&0&0.0.0#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}. Win32 Error: 1381.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Here is the description of the other: source DCOM
DCOM got error "The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it. " attempting to start the service ntmssvc with arguments "-Service" in order to run the server:
{D61A27C6-8F53-11D0-BFA0-00A024151983}

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

also when i try to use a windows XP disk for the system recovery it is unable to detect any hard drives and if i tried to install windows XP it also can not detect any hard drives.

2 CD drives.. Maybe you have virtual drive, like daemon tools?

Is your physical CD drive working? If not, that might be the cause of your problems.

Advice on the side:
Check if your hard drive is enabled in BIOS. If disabled, XP would still boot and work, but other utilities might have problem finding that drive.