Hello everybody,

I'm having a serious problem with my comp and I'm starting to get desperate, I hope you can help me.

Today I started my comp like always, I haven't installed anything or done anything out of normal these last days.

It suddenly pops with this error message

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

I booted from the Windows XP Home CD and pressed 'r' to start the repairing feature, it then asked me to type what windows installation I wanted to access, I typed 1. But what comes after is a Blue Screen:

"Problem detected and Windows has shut down to prevent damage to PC..."

So I tried to boot in Safe Mode to restore the system at least, but it won't start because then the "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt..." message appears again!

So..I can't repair it because blue screen comes up, and I can't access Safe Mode because the corrupt file error appears...

Hope you can help me out ....

Welcome to CDF's:

If you have gone through all that then i suggest formating (erasing) your hard drive and reload your operating system back.

Just reinstall Windows, you do not have to reformat. This way you wont have to reinstall all your software.

I would strongly recommend you reformat your drive and make sure you erase the partition , Something on your system made your operating system files go corrupt. If you don’t start fresh you take a chance of that problem still being on your drive. Potentially leaving it to happen again. I would even take it as far as taking that drive out and running a program called KillDisk on it from another computer and letting the windows CD create an all new partition on the drive. KillDisk is free to download just google it. Let me guess it’s a Dell , There infamies for that ……………

Well, I'm going on vacations in few weeks and was planning on buying a new comp. anyways so having to kill this one isn't in my list of worries.

What I really wish is to be able to get a few files from the comp. before throwing it away.

And to whom suggested reinstaling Windows, I can't because when I boot from the CD the blue screen pops up, so I can't repair nor reinstall anything.

A live bootable Linux CD is a handy tool for this job. Have you
an Ubuntu, Mepis or PCLinux installer disc? If you want to
avoid a big download, you could try one of the smaller Linux
distros like DSL (Damn Small Linux).

Good luck with the file recovery and enjoy the holiday.

No need to try getting any files from that drive , Once your operating system goes corrupt that’s it. You have no more working partition witch means all the files and data is gone. You would need some good knowledge about how hard drives work to get your data back. There’s most likely nothing wrong with your hardware it sounds like its all software issuse. Have you tried getting into your bios and telling it to boot from CDrom with the XP cd in the drive.

lol ''Damn Small Linux''

Well, it seems like my comp. is brain dead and trying to resurrect it isn't worth it.
Well, I will survive; it'll take me a couple months to recover but I guess it's cool.

Thanks everybody who gave me advice.

New or formated HDD will revive it. Have a good trip.

your hard drive is deteriating, you might have bad sectors on your hard drive. recommended to reinstall windows from fresh, once done, dont install anything, go to my computer and right click on your hard drive and click on properties. then click on tools tab and click on check now and and check box attempt to fix file system and fix bad sector automatically. Once done, click ok then restart the computer. When you restart your computer, it will go into a series of disc scanning, it will take over an hour depends on how big your hard drive is. Once done, then you can restore all your programs and other drivers. Good Luck

And if you still get the same message, then it is time to replace the hard drive

Im with ghetocowboy , sound like all you need is a fresh install . check the drive and check the ram >>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'm sorry but...no! If your operating system goes but the actual hard disk is fine then the only problem is getting some sort of OS to load so you can access the data from the drive. Unless that actual data is damaged then there's no problem. Simply booting up some form of linux from a livecd and then burning copying the data that he wants wouldn't be a problem. No need to lose whatever documents/data you have from this corrupted installation of windows.

If it is the hardware and you find the the hard disk is dying, then seriously back up all stuff you want and replace the HDD.

O.K. and thats why we told him to load linix and he would need a little Knowledge about hard drives , we didnt need all that ( I'm sorry but...no! ) going on K. You all can kick me of this site but im not going for that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is not correct. The partition table is in a single sector (sector 0).
You could have a completely trashed OS and still have a valid partition
map. Note that external drives work perfectly well despite the fact that
they don't usually have any OS installed.

Not necessarily, just boot the live CD, mount the drive and copy
your data. Mounting the disc in Ubuntu is a simple point & click
operation. Copying the files is a simple drag & drop.

Obviously, if the drive is badly damaged, it might not be
possible to recover anything from it.

This should bring home the lesson: always install windows on it's own partition or hdd, and always have a disk imaging solution in place. This way, a trashed system problem is solved in 15min, and yr personal data are safe, no matter what.
Good look next time!

Make sure BIOS has CD as first boot device in boot order options. Boot to Windows setup CD should avoid the error screen and make a repair install possible. Repair install may or may not succeed, but it's worth a shot. I had a similar missing or corrupt file problem with Win2k for which repair install attempt found no install to repair, and I had to restore a Ghost image which is much easier than reinstall all apps. The odd thing about my circumstance is that the partition with Win2k and all files and folders could be seen when booted to setup CD, but setup failed to see the install for some strange reason.

If the Repair Install won't work (for whatever reason), as a next step you can do a Parallel Install of XP.
But do try the Repair Install first using proper instructions...your fingers can screw this up if they strike the wrong keys...

Screen-by-screen instructions....

XP Repair Install : (try this first)
http://www.windowsxphome.windowsrein...exfullpage.htm

XP Parallell Install: (works for Home as well)
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winx...exfullpage.htm