tell me what happened before this happened, I ask because there is a horrible infection around right now that makes it look just like what you are saying but everything really is there you just can not see it or get to it. Did any type of scan come up and ask you to run it? any thing at all you can tell me will help. Can you boot it up in safe mode and try last known good configuration or one of the other options there and see if that does anything. If you tell me what version of windows you have I will give you the directions on how to go to safe mode.

There are ways you can get stuff off of your hard drive, it involves using a linux disc, not sure it would be something you could do if you are not very computer savvy, if you had someone who could help you we could try that.

Yes if you use the discs from the pc company for your pc it will put it back exactly as it was when you bought it which means you will have all the original stuff that was on that pc, likely you have gotten rid of a lot of the bloat that came on it so you would need to do that again, also most come with a trial version of some antivirus program you would need to fully remove that and install one that is current and working but there are some great free ones. The biggest hassle is that you will need to do all of the windows updates which could mean doing service packs and hundreds of updates. It takes time. I just had to do it for a friend who had that very bad infection.

How old is this pc? and is it a desktop or laptop

checking for any updates? where are you

I'm here, Raven. After I posted I remembered that a few years ago I had problems and had to have the mother board replaced. Now I'm not sure if the disc I ordered will work if they replaced it with an Acer board instead of a Gateway board. I'm calling them in the morning but saved your post to show him when he comes out.

For a few weeks before it crashed, I got messages that said something to the effect that it had closed down and had to restart. It was a minor inconvenience at the time and I guess I should've paid more attention to it. When it crashed, it was sudden and I got a screen that showed a "picture" of files all in a row and then soon after the screen went black. It did tell me my C-drive was empty and so was my "Word". Those were two I clicked on. I can't remember much after that because I fiddled around with it--turning it off, unplugging it, etc. I was able to get on "Computer" and it showed I had plenty of memory left, even though it said I didn't.

It's conked out on me several times since but I'm able to get on the internet by clicking on "Network" and double clicking on the internet icon.

Thank you for your help, sweet Raven!

There's a lot of things that could cause this. If the battery on the motherboard (or "mainboard" being the politically correct term these days) dies, you lose the CMOS settings and might not be able to read the drives. They need to be set correctly to read it as before.

It could be a cable worked loose. Vibration causes this.

If you put in a restore disk it will 99% of the time format the drive and reload as it came from the factory meaning any documents on there will be lost.

I'd suggest getting it to a competent person. If you have data to be recovered you need someone who knows what they're doing depending on the importance of the data. You might even want to send the drive to someplace that specializes in data recovery. They're expensive so the data should be critical. Otherwise if less critical, an experienced tech might be able to help.

For data recovery, especially from someone with less experience, the more you try to access the drive the more trouble you can cause.

If you replaced the mainboard with a different one, most likely the restore disks will not work with it. They're tied to the specifications of the unit for which it's designed. You can't make many changes. It checks for the stuff that's supposed to be there and if it doesn't find it, it'll tell you it's not for that machine. If you're paying for the disk(s) you're usually better off to just buy an OEM version of WIndows. And actually, for that cost, these days it's often worthwhile to look at a new machine. Putting a lot of money into an old computer isn't cost-effective when you can buy a new machine for $200-$300!

I have a sneaking suspicion I know the answer to this, but, have you backed up your data lately?