Xp Pro Crashed and turned of the computer

I was trying to use my newly installed LG Brand DVD CD-ROM
writer which uses the Roxio Easy CD Creator software to
back up my files and the XP PRO O.S. crashed and shut down
the computer. The CD burner previously worked fine with
win 98. I have looked everywhere for answers but found
none. It was a dual boot setup on a pentium 4 (1.6gb
clock speed). Upon rebooting I get a black screen with no
text or drive activity even after waiting considerable
time. I am using system commander 7 as the front end
program which still functions. I can not see the drive
letter from Dos or win 98SE but can see it using V-Com's
system commander's boot program utility. I can not use
ghost 2003 to rescue my files as it too can not see the
folder and am at a loss as how to recover with my files
intact. I could format and start over but would loose all
my data. I thought XP would be a bullet proof O.S. and I
guess I was wrong. The only thing that is bullet proof is
that I can not save my files either.
The Microsoft site is no help at all in this matter. Will
they help me with this without charging me $270.00 plus
dollars?
Can anyone help?
Bill