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Sorry - I wasn't trying to split hairs. Your original post said that chkdsk will "ensure the major OS components are in line with the standard Windoze setup". Chkdsk doesn't do that - it only checks for errors within files that are on the hard disk, and, if used with the /f command, it will repair those files.

There is a utility within Windows called "sfc" that will compare the existing Windows files with the files on the original installation media and check for corruption - it will then replace corrupted files with the original version.

From Microsoft's website:

CHKDSK

Creates and displays a status report for a disk based on the file system. Chkdsk also lists and corrects errors on the disk. Used without parameters, chkdsk displays the status of the disk in the current drive.

/f : Fixes errors on the disk. The disk must be locked. If chkdsk cannot lock the drive, a message appears that asks you if you want to check the drive the next time you restart the computer.

System File Checker (sfc)

Scans and verifies the versions of all protected system files after you restart your computer.

/scannow : Scans all protected system files immediately.

I apologize to all for being absent from this thread, but I've been busy trying to resolve the problems. When I have time, I'll ping everyone who tried to help. Here's the current status:

I am planning a trip to Tulsa on Sunday to buy a new hard drive, for a new WinXP installation. I'm planning to buy a full version of WinXP SP2, so I won't have teh same repair agony I was facing this time.

Anyway, that's for tomorrow. As for what's happened so far, I did a lot of thinking about all the suggestions on this thread, and in spite of all that thinking, I still made the wrong choice for what to do first.

For my first action, I did the Repair option that several suggested. I should have heeded the advice of others who suggested moving the boot drive to another PC first. What happened is that the Repair found dozens of fonts that it couldn't copy, and so the Repair didn't take.

Then, when I moved the drive to another PC, when I booted that PC, Windows wanted to run chkdsk on my drive, so I let it. It found a ton of items that needed to be fixed, and I thought, 'Man, that'll fix it up.'

But it didn't, and when I put the drive back into my computer, the aborted Windows Repair insisted on continuing, but after it finished, Windows wouldn't start - same black screen.

So, even though all the files are on the drive, and I was able to copy them all to a drive on the other system, I'll need to reinstall Windows.

For that, I figured it this way: My hard drive is nearly four years old, so I'm playing with fire to reinstall anything on it (statistically, most hard drives fail either in the first 30 days or after three years of service). So, I've decided to buy a new drive for the new install.

Also, I'm tired of facing the Repair agony of using the original pre-SP1 WinXP install disc, then having to re-upgrade to SP2. So, I've decided to buy a full SP2 install disc.

Anyway, that's where things stand at the moment. I thank everyone for the help I've received here. All of all was great, even though I did things in the wrong order, and messed up.