[rubpez2]

Can someone please help me. My laptop will not start up in regular mode or safe mode. It tells me that "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM". It then tells me to use the setup cdrom and to selsect r in order to repair. I tried the cd rom and attempted to repair with the xp install screen, but it did not give me an option to repair. And when I enter the recovery console the default command promt that appears on the right is C:\>. After looking at diffrent sites, I have found that I need to change to the C:\WINDOWS directory. Now to do this I think I have to type cd \windows\. I have tried that and it continually tells me that it is an invalid path. It was working fine yesterday until i installed microsoft office enterprise 2007. it downloaded some upgrades after install and then my computer started running really slow. I went to restart it and it would not restart. Can someone please, please help me.

Edited by rubpez2, 21 October 2007 - 03:26 AM.

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Go back into the recovery console by pressing R on the first screen.
At the prompt, type in "CHKDSK /p /r" and press Enter. This will take a long time, leave it be.
When its completed, type in "exit" and press Enter.

Leave the computer to boot normally again, if it still doesn't work, boot off your XP CD again, press Enter on the first screen, F8 on the second and R on the third.

[Neil Jones]

Go back into the recovery console by pressing R on the first screen.
At the prompt, type in "CHKDSK /p /r" and press Enter. This will take a long time, leave it be.
When its completed, type in "exit" and press Enter.

Leave the computer to boot normally again, if it still doesn't work, boot off your XP CD again, press Enter on the first screen, F8 on the second and R on the third.

[rubpez2]

ok, I am doing that right now. Should I be worried that all i get is C:\> and not C:\WINDOWS or the option to choose a number (i.e. 1-C:\WINDOWS)?

[Neil Jones]

The option to choose an installation (ie C:\Windows) is only presented if the console can read it. If it can't then it'll just fall through to a DOS prompt. Normally running CHKDSK sorts this as well.

[rubpez2]

ok, i am running it, but it is going really, really slow. I will post bak here when it is done. Thank you for your help Neil.

[rubpez2]

Ok, it has been running all day and it is only at 25%. Is this normal? If no, what do I do? I don't care about the hard drive or having to reinstall xp, as long as I can save my files. Is there a way I can save them? I read around and ran across some sites saying that I can take it out and get an adapter in order to add it to my desktop as a second hard drive and then transfer over my files. I also read something about maybe using linux from a cd and being able to save my files that way. Ideally, I would like for it just to be fixed and not have to resort to that, but I am getting desperate.

[rubpez2]

Ok, it got to 40% and it stopped. It gave me a message that says"the volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems". Now what do I do?

Edited by rubpez2, 21 October 2007 - 07:56 PM.

[Neil Jones]

Replace the hard drive. That one is dying.

[The Skeptic]

Since the problem started immediately after you installed Office 2007, it puts doubt on hardware origin. Before replacing the disk I would try clean installation of xp.

To save your files try to download Puppy Linux from this link. Create a bootable CD and use the program to backup to another storage device.