Windows 98 boot sequence mega-problem

Basically, if it can be categorized so, I tried to upgrade the o/s of my acer 313T laptop (http://www.search4hardware.com/5/p_5_33_Acer_313T.html) from 98 to xp today, which required me to free up a few hundred Mb of space. In my haste I may or may not have deleted the 'Windows' folder; at any rate, I can only receive the screen stating 'Invalid system disk Replace disk, then press any key' when starting up. I understand this to mean I have eradicated my boot sequence. Without access to a 98 startup disk to replicate this, how may i regain my laptop? The root cause of this was my desire to copy the entire hard drive (3GB, via iTunes, ipod, a usb and firewire) to my new pc. Thus freeing up my laptop to be wiped, re-formatted and made useful again. The reason why xp had to be installed first was to enable iTunes to run on it (confound the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft prohibiting the existence of a 98 compatible iTunes!). (I included a link so that the limitations of my laptop would be evident). Could any suggest a solution to this problem???

Many Thanks

Luke

 

Your message is confusing, but it sounds as if you have a floppy in when its trying to boot.

Did you get XP installed or trying to install.

 

No there was no disk in the drive. I think I know what the problem is, in that i have no operating system or boot sequence, meaning my computer boots in ms-dos, no cdrom driver, meaning I cannot replace these files, and no windows 98 disk, meaning i couldn't replace these files if I wanted. I wanted to know if anyones got any bright ideas which will allow me to recover the files on my laptop and then put a new operating system on it.
Any ideas?