Hello guys, here's the problem. I have a Toshiba Satellite P25, with windows XP home edition on it. The DVD drive went dead about a month before the system itself crashed. When it was still working, the laptop still detected the DVD drive, however when a disc was inserted it would spin a little, then nothing would happen. Even on the BIOS boot sequence screen I can see the drive, however it has a "!" next to it.

That being said, about a month after the DVD drive went dead I went to turn the laptop one day and got this error. "windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: windows\system32\config\system"

At first when I accessed the BIOS it wouldn't even detect the HD anymore. Yesterday I went to try again and it's listed there again, but that's about it.

I have the Toshiba recovery DVD, but like I said, the DVD drive is dead. This laptop doesn't have a floppy drive (of course) and it doesn't recognize USB as a bootable option. I now have a second laptop, so I guess my option is to do a network boot, but my new laptop has Vista on it, I don't really know how to do it and if it will work at all. I was thinking of buying the DVD drive and replace the old one, however with no OS working on the laptop I don't know if that will work (will I need to install any drivers at all? even if I get the exact same DVD drive model?)

Please help with this, if it's a problem that requires two posts (due to one problem being with the OS and the other being a hardware issue) my apologies and please tell me so so I can make the other post as well. I'm technically inclined and will follow instructions as given. Thank you in advance

The DVD drive should work even without an operating system because in basic functions it is controlled by the BIOS.

Try to reset the BIOS. Disconnect the charger and remove the battery. Press the power button for about a minute and reinstall the battery and charger. If successful, a message will show up. Set time and date in the BIOS and reboot. If your drives show up in the BIOS but the drive still not working, replace it.

Another option is that the drive do not sit well in place. Remove it, clean the contacts and reinstall it. See if it makes any difference.

thanks for the reply! i'll try your tips and post my results.