Thanks, all. ERUNT sounds great; I'll be sure to use it in the future.
Cleaning my registry with CCleaner was one of the more recent things I did before I lost boot capabilities -- though I wouldn't guess it was the problem; I suspect a virus or the typical Windows system file corruption.
My only access is through WIN2000 Recovery Console which gives you highly restricted use and all use is by typing commands at a prompt -- no dbl click or right click or left click. I can not directly boot in any mode.
I've gone ahead working with the win2000 repair operation with its 4-5 diskettes (my CD is not bootable), tried all options to no avail -- though did confirm that my registry is corrupt (SYSTEM at least) after replacing a bunch of system files (from the original W2K; reinstalling SP4 will be needed later). I'm now at the last option: a new install and holding while I contemplate the ramifications of installing over WINNT versus to a new folder. I'm trying to save as much of regular stuff that I can, especially working programs (I have a complete backup of all directories and files including the current system warts which I'd like to avoid having to use), and the Microsoft message with installing over the current install is typical ominous; says it deletes damn-near everything (??)... including My Documents of all really stupid things!
So, CCleaner restore was a long shot (which I had to take) that didn't pan out. But thanks for listening and the help.