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Ok...Let me try to word this right. ;*)

Something was able to fry (reconfigure) my BIOS settings; the end result was the motherboard was no longer able to process any information on my computer. There was a period of systemic shut-downs and other signals leading up to a complete failure. My partitions were no longer active. Matter of fact, when I was searching in the system settings, I would find that sometimes I had active partitions, other times would show only an active DOS shell. Upon exploring this further, I had messages stating something to the effect of "partitions deleted and data not available".

FWIW, the power supply, surge protecter, etc. have been ruled out as the cause. Thinking the problem was the actual hard drive, I purchased and re-installed another. When that didn't work, figuring I had installed it incorrectly, the BIOS needed to be reset, or whatever; I took the entire CPU to be checked over. The bottom line was that it would be in my best interest to replace the entire system rather then attempt repairs.

Thus, I bought, So-- What I'm trying to figure out is how to *save the vital information to disk* in the event that (God forbid) something similiar happens again.
My head is swimming. I was under the impression that I just had to insert the floppy into the drive, hit some keys and my information would be safe. Is it not as simple as I had thought?

Just damn.

I'm hoping that if I repost this again, I'm going to make more sense and someone will be able to help me out.

Focault's Pendulum-- Old system was an IBM Aptiva E series, OS was Win98, 64 MB/8 GB about 4 years old. I no longer have the CPU, kept the monitor and keyboard. My son wants 'em.
The new is an HP Pavillion, OS is WinXP- 256 MB/80 GB.

I do appreciate the suggestions!

I really hate to tell you this...especially after you went out and bought a new system....but I have software on a little ole' floppy that would have reconfigured your BIOS back to it's original settings.
A format of your original hard drive, along with a new partition would have stood an %85 chance of a full recovery.

Also... the reason I asked about your old system, is because, I accept donations of parts. I work in a financially depressed area of SOuth Jersey. The people here can't afford squat. So what I do is cobble pieces together and make workable...albeit slower systems. I give them Net Zero access for ten hours or so a month free...and then give away the systems to families with kids. Of course I load up FR as their home page....hehehe.
Hope all goes well with your new system...any probs, feel free to contact me.