My Windows Xp refuses to boot completely. It starts and then report the error screen "we are sorry, " , and then starts the process again repeatedly. Attempting to boot from the CD drive with the bootable XP cd does not work at all. Anyone know what can be wrong and how I may fix this ?

Can you give details of how to tried to repair it using the windows xp cd

If it does not boot from your CD drive you probably have hardware failure then

OK the XP CD works now but it will not recover. I get the impression that the only way to go will be to reformat the hard disk as it says the available partition is corrupt. Is there a sensible way around this as I can't afford to lose some of the data on my hard disk. Can you copy data from the hard disk as it is and how ?

try repair option after booting from cd or use chkdsk /p to check the disk for errors

get an external hard drive case, remove the hard drive, and install it in the case

ensure you confirm if your drive is sata or ide before you buy the case. also ensure the case has a usb port. connect this to another pc, copy your files and get to restoring your system

personally,

i have a 500gb notebook hard drive that is in in 7 partitions, two for Os seven and xp, one for virtual hard disk, and the rest for my documents. this way, i never have to worry about losing my documents in the event of a system crash , and i can always get to them via my backup OS.