Curious,

Does the computer - you're referencing that needs some first-aid - have a functioning CD/DVD drive? It doesn't matter that you can't burn to it, but only that one is installed and was working before things went haywire (not with the CD/DVD drive, I'm hoping).

If you wanna PM me a snail mail address, I've gotta tool that I believe will most likely work for you. It works like a charm. I can do the walk-through on how to use it, once you know that it will boot. And, even if the HD itself won't boot, this baby will bring it up .