@Thomas regrets, I should know to supply all possible info.
@1260 - I am not using a hardfile, only native windows directories..
xp pro fully updated
ntfs
winuae 1430
OS 3.9 with both boing bags
This system was working fine - I was forced to crash the pc itself when I thought an animation creation had locked up the emulation. Subsequent reboot shows nothing wrong with the hard drive, e.g. no errors reported, scandisk was run manually - usual pc recovery done after a forced power off.