I'd try booting from something like a Knoppix (
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/) CD and if you can access the drive save a back up of all the vital data. Then attempt to fix the drive, there are various tools included in the Knoppix distribution. Having made a back up of the important stuff the risk is lower when the tinkering starts.
Some guides on using Knoppix for recovery:
http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerwork...y/l-knopx.html
A few suggestions for you gleaned from the web...
From :
http://www.computing.net/windows2000...rum/59766.html
Boot the computer and push F4 to enter the start up menu. then select last known good configration, this should fix your problem. Have a nice day.
From :
http://forums.devhardware.com/archive/t-23968
I had a similiar issue with an HD that had 18GB of mp3 (some very rare) on it... I used an application called Stellar-Phoenix (
www.stellarinfo.com ) if you can get the hd to be recognized in Device Manger, then you should be able to retrieve the data. The nice thing about this product is the demo version will tell you if the program can even retrieve your lost data before you have to go out and buy the license. They have separate versions for NTFS and FAT filesystems. It worked for me, and hopefully it will work for you. BTW - the license was $100 US for NTFS, and a little less for FAT.
Good luck!