[mupaco007]

Yesterday, when I turned on my computer (Dell 2400 Dimension), the Dell logo page and the Windows XP page came on as usual. Once the computer finishes loading XP, it usually goes black for about 0.5 second, and then goes to the blue "Loading your Configuration Settings" page, afterwhich the Desktop comes up. However, after XP loaded, the screen went black and stayed black....I couldn't do anything with it.

I restarted and tried to start in Safe Mode. The command prompts started coming up, and then once it hit "...Mup.sys", it froze just like the normal boot. Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be wrong?!?!

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Run this, it will probably appear to freeze, leave it alone for 20 minutes, if still frozen, restart the PC

If the repair runs, use the opportunity to back up any data you need and consider a clean install

You can use this guide to repair XP

Possibly, you will need to press the start button and keep tapping the delete key, (possibly F2) until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, load the XP CD then type Y then press enter, as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

You will need your XP product key to complete this

The XP Product Key is a 25 character alpha numerical code, which does not include the sequence OEM

If you have audio / video files which are subject to DRM you should check with the provider for known issues with performing an XP repair install

Click this to view the XP Repair Install Guide

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system

The XP repair install will look and run as a normal install, however, you must not see a request to format the drive

After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update

[Retired Tech]

Run this, it will probably appear to freeze, leave it alone for 20 minutes, if still frozen, restart the PC

If the repair runs, use the opportunity to back up any data you need and consider a clean install

You can use this guide to repair XP

Possibly, you will need to press the start button and keep tapping the delete key, (possibly F2) until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, load the XP CD then type Y then press enter, as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

You will need your XP product key to complete this

The XP Product Key is a 25 character alpha numerical code, which does not include the sequence OEM

If you have audio / video files which are subject to DRM you should check with the provider for known issues with performing an XP repair install

Click this to view the XP Repair Install Guide

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system

The XP repair install will look and run as a normal install, however, you must not see a request to format the drive

After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update

[mupaco007]

OK, so I ran the repair feature off of a Home Edition Version 2002 CD that my roommate had, since I don't have my CD here. I'm not sure if I had Version 2002 or not. At any rate, I tried the repair feature, and it looked like it was working fine, but then it said that it could not complete. So, I tried to restart with the hard drive, and I got the following message:

STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\SAM
or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent, or not writable.

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.

So, I guess you are my technical support group! What does this mean, and can I still get back into Windows without clearing my hard drive?

[Retired Tech]

This deals with the error

http://support.micro...kb;en-us;307545

[mupaco007]

I tried to do Step 1 of the link you sent me, and all of it worked fine except for the first line of the third section:

copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system

It said "File not found." All of the other ones worked though....which still doesn't quite make sense to me. I restarted anyway, and now get the error:

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

So basically, it looks as though this file doesn't exist. What can I do to create it or find it?

[Retired Tech]

Does it still do that if you run the repair

Are you using a same version XP CD as was used for the original installation

[mupaco007]

Things aren't looking too good. I'm pretty sure I have the original Windows XP installation CD for the computer...it says "Reinstallation CD Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Including Service Pack 1". This is a CD that came with my computer....that's the one I'm looking for, right? I tried to get to the repair feature using this CD, but the next screen asked which partition I would like to install Windows to. This is supposed to be where it asks if you'd like to repair Windows, so it seems as though my computer is not recognizing the Windows that was originally installed on my computer.

When I try to let the computer boot from the hard drive, I get this:
"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM. Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

When I go into the Recovery Console, and try to enter the step:
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak,
it comes up with "COPY does not support wildcards or directory copies." This leads me to believe that I somehow deleted c:\windows\system32\config\system from my computer.....which I'm assuming can NOT be good. I do have the original CD that came with the computer though....is there anything I can do to save my data, or is a re-format inevitable?

[Retired Tech]

Try the repair using your CD and remember not to press R at the first screen

Press Enter

Press F8

Press R

[mupaco007]

I was trying to do that, but once I press ENTER and F8, the next page doesn't give me the option of pressing "R". It shows the partitions of my hard drive (FAT, NTFS) and asks which partition I would like to install Windows XP to. Nowhere does it say "Press R" on the screen. To me, it sounds as though this will do a complete re-install of XP and I'll lose my data....which appears to be increasingly possible, but I'd really like to avoid that! Should I try to select the NTFS partition (what all of my data is) and see if I can get to the repair feature after that screen, or is there another way to get around this mess?

[Retired Tech]

Have you got another PC you can install this drive in, as a slave drive so you can explore the content and transfer any data you need

[mupaco007]

OK, so just to make sure I know what you're trying to say.....I would need to get another PC, install the hard drive I have in my current PC into the new PC, and then use that PC to backup the data on the hard drive? And then, I would re-install the hard drive in my original PC and re-install Windows, and then proceed to use the secondary PC to transfer all of the data? I don't currently have another computer I could do this with, but I could try to find one. Would there be a potential of messing up the PC that I use to backup/transfer the data, or is that a fairly safe process?

[Retired Tech]

This is how to add it

http://www.askbobran...hard_drive.html

This is how to transfer the data

http://www.askbobran..._to_new_pc.html

There isn't a problem with adding it to a PC, you will only be using it to transfer data, either to its hard drive or writing data to DVDR, (which is probably easiest as you can load it from those directly on to yours, if you use re-writeable discs you can use them for back ups

[mupaco007]

OK, so I think I'm just going to buy a new hard drive and install it in my PC to transfer the data. Since modern hard drives are much better than those circa 2003, couldn't I just copy the data from my old drive to the new one, and use the new one as my primary drive? On a related sidenote, are Seagate hard drives reliable?

[Retired Tech]

" Perhaps something to consider is Seagate’s generous 5-year warranty "

http://www.techspot...._hd/index.shtml

http://www.maximumpc...te_72009_b.html

You can install the new drive as the primary and copy the data

[mupaco007]

So I picked up a Seagate 250GB Ultra ATA/100 hard drive, and I'd like to make that my primary drive. Once I install it, should I load Windows XP onto it first, and then the data from the original drive? Also, I have both XP Home Edition and XP Pro....if I used XP Pro on the new drive, would it matter that the data from the old drive was run on XP Home? Or should I just put XP Home on the new drive?