Non System Disk Error

A user received a “Non System Disk Error” when booting his Windows 98 PC. Transfered System from Boot disk.Windows does not load although PC boots to command prompt. When DIR is entered at command Prompt PC beeps. Although directory sizes, dates andtime stamps are displayed; director names are garbled. Anti Virus scan was run using Symantec emergency disk, no virus detected. Is there any way to restore date. User used PC at home, No backups available.