I absolutely positively HATE comments like this. If the Mac using world would stop pretending that their computers are fault free- the PC using world would stop seeing Mac users as pretentious hippies.

http://www.google.com/search?q=mac+w...+boot&ie=UTF-8

Mac's stop booting too.

http://mac.blorge.com/2010/03/20/mil...at-cansecwest/

Mac's are just as vulnerable to problems too.

OP - I fear that your safest bet is going to be a full fresh installation on that machine. Thankfully, the installer should copy all the old files into a windows.old directory, so nothing will become lost.

You WILL need a working Windows CD and license key though, so verify you have those before you continue.

It's a Taiwanese PC...
 

Mom is in Taiwan. Please don't confuse Taiwan with China ;). Copyright laws are actively and strictly enforced in Taiwan.

But I do agree counterfeit softwares/movies/music/watches/cellphones/Chanel/LV/(fill-in-whatever-you-can-think-of)...etc are phenomenal in China. :D

I was trying not to involve Mom's tech guy since I was the one who mess up her machine :o. Even though I could/can handle clean (re-)installation of my own laptop, I am not tech savvy enough for Mom's machine.

Mom's tech guy will stop by Monday evening to take a look. I spoke with him and confirmed he didn't give Mom the bootable CD. I believe he installed a legit copy of XP. He recall it's a XP Pro system, not XP Home. I don't know. If it were a XP Pro, why didn't my (English) CD work? Somehow the boot menu (F12) wasn't working properly during the startup either (unresponsive arrow up/down to change default). I could only change the boot sequence (CD then HD) from BIOS setup. He should be able to deal with the CD & license key issues when he shows up.

The biggest problem is Mom doesn't have the slightest idea about backup. I pray a full fresh installation won't be needed or I'll be in big trouble for the rest of my life. Whatever the tech guy does tomorrow to "revive" the system, Mom got to keep all her family and travel photos. Or I'll go straight to hell. :p

Stay tuned!

www.mozy.com (assuming she's on always-on broadband)

Free for 2GB of data.

I was so impressed I bought a subscription and it has saved me a time or two.

LOL, shouldn't be checking your gkrktoeifjdkwsodkgvmdfktgokrf/hjyuty/fjt.gkt/gktk/dll file about now? :cool:

I love my Linux machine way better... :D

gave up on mac last year
 

Personally, I more trouble with my powerbook than all of my thinkpads combined.