Insert the XP installation CD from your daughter's computer into the machine with the problem.
Power up the problem machine.
Watch carefully for options to Enter Setup or Enter BIOS, or Enter CMOS.
While the screen still has a dark background and shows information in what looks like DOS mode, you will see instructions for entering Setup. It goes by quickly so be watchful.
It will probably look like:
To Enter Setup, Press F2
Various machines use different keys, like F10, F12, DEL, so you'll have to look for the message that tells you what key to press.
Once you are in BIOS or Setup, browse to the section that lists "Disk Boot Order"
Again there are differences, but most often you'll find the list in "Advanced" and subtopic IDE
You will see a list of the machines various drives, including Floppy if it has one, Hard Drive, and Optical Drives (CD ROM)
Most likely the "Boot Order" is presently set to:
Floppy first
Hard Drive Second
CD ROM third
At the Bottom of the page, you will see instructions for using UpArrow, DownArrow, UpPage, DownPage or Add+, Subtract - (one set of these key combinations will allow you to "toggle" move the items in the Boot Order)
Use the appropriate key combination to Move CD ROM up to the top of the list, so that CD ROM is the first Item. That will force your machine to "boot" from CD ROM before trying Hard Drive, etc.
Exit BIOS/SetUp by selecting Exit and Save New Settings, or Exit and Save Settings
Now when you reboot, your machine will boot from the XP installation Disk that you've placed into the CD ROM.
Restart your machine. (it should go to the XP CD)
now follow the instructions that I first posted from Microsoft regarding CHECKDISK.
For your further information, here is the routine that I generally instruct users to follow:
Check Disk in XP
Set the order to boot from the CD Rom 1st and the Hard drive 2nd.
Put your Windows CD in the tray, then "Exit with Saving" the settings (far right tab)
1. Boot with your windows CD
It will take some time as the CD loads various files
2. Type R to Enter the Recovery Console
3. Enter the Administrator password (if there is one)
4. Type: chkdsk c: /r and press Enter <<<This will take awhile (I just ran it on my laptop which took about 1 hour (40 gig Hard Drive at 4200rpm)
5. Once completed (if no errors of unrecovery) Type: chkdsk c: /p and press Enter
6. Type: fixboot c: and press Enter
You’ll get a script asking if you are sure you wish to write a new boot sector to C:, Type y (for yes)
You’ll get a script stating that a new boot sector has been written.
7. At the prompt, type (exit) to Boot Normally (you'll have to remove the XP CD to boot Normally)
You will notice that "my" instructions also include the instructions for "fixboot" please do so.
After this procedure completes successfully, you will need to go back into BIOS/SetUp to "toggle" the Boot Order back to the way it was originally (Probably as I have listed it above)
Best Regards
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I'm poor right now. 
