I am getting a little desperate now. I called Symantec and spent a LONG time on hold only to be told they can't help, and then disconnected. My computer is locked up and worthless right now. I truly don't know what to do from here. Launched Norton Ghost 2003 for first time, to back up hard drive; followed help instructions; on settings, selected "Firewire Drive" in "External Storage" section of Advanced Settings dialog; clicked OK; system restarted and came up with a prompt line that says "Missing Operating System". I don't have the faintest idea as to where to go from here. Don't have a hard copy of User Manual. I tried rebooting, tried Ctrl/Alt/Delete, and tried everything I know, and can't get out of Ghost...and CAN'T access the balance of what is on my hard drive. My business is basically on hold until I can regain access to my system/hard drive. I desperately need help. I would GREATLY appreciate any help anyone can offer...and please explain clearly. My operating system is XP with all current updates; I also have Zone Alarm & Norton Utilities on the hard drive. Thanks for your help!! Everything was working perfectly on my system until I launched Ghost. Surely SOMEONE can tell me the best way to free up my system and get control back??? Thank you!!!

please review the links provided here by NightOwl.
http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1188045499/1#1
may it will help for now. I'm sure someone will be along with more experience with this problem.

JD

It sounds like you are trapped in the *virtual partition*--the reference that ckcc gave you should have what you need to set things straight--post back if you are stuck on some aspect of what needs doing--don't panic--it can be worked out!

Do you have a floppy drive--or only CD/DVD ROMs?