Here's what transpired:
-took the laptop to my fav. repair shop about 4 hrs. before my flt.
-they ran diagnostics and found my HD to be OK
-they tried to boot from a CD and couldn't
-they didn't know the exact error, probably software related
-suggested I remove HD & save all the data to my desktop & reload Windows XP
-reloaded Windows and now I can't "see" all the data I stored on my desktop (using My Network Places); could copy data to a CD & then load on laptop but would like to get MNP working

In the past I could swap files between computers using My Network Places but now I can't. Not sure what the issue is. Any good tutorials or advice? Please email or PM me if you're willing to help.

Thanks,
Phil