Vista Boot Problem

Hiya folks. I am posting this for a friend that lives 2000 miles away (or I would have gone over and fixed it) so over the phone, I can't address the problem. I am also more familiar with XP, not Vista. So here goes.....
I have narrowed the problem down to a BOOT problem. I had her do a DIR of what is now called the "X:" drive, not the "C:" drive (system renamed the C: drive to X: drive) and it still shows her files are intact. It won't boot to "Safe Mode" using the F8 key. When she tries to restore or re-install from the install disk, it doesn't give a OS option in the restore box. She said this problem started from after her son plugged an IPOD into it. I have tried many "go arounds" but all attempts are in vain!! She's tried all install options from the install disk, tried restoring/re-writing the MBR and no commands are recognized. I don't even think booting into SAFE MODE would make a difference at this point.
Any Ideas?????

 

First thing that comes to mind since boot drive is x instead of c is that the boot files are missing or the hidden boot partition was somehow removed.

Is there a C drive on the computer?

 

No Bob, No "C:" drive. I had her do a DIR of the current "X:" drive and it shows no "C:" drive. I had her try doing a MBR reinstall/Recovery but none of the commands to repair it were recognized. I'm thinking of downloading a recovery boot disk copy from NeoSmart and mailing it to her. I'm just hoping there's an easy fix before going through that.