Computer woes....

Masked_Mullet

So i come home for easter weekend and my parents computer is busted, when you boot up the computer it says

"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"

Now the only cd i got is the restore cd that came with the computer, there was no original cd. Also once i put that cd in the only thing it says is boot to cd rom, or restore the computer theres no option to repair. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

redimpulse

You need an XP cd (I'm guessing it's XP) to run the recovery console. Also you need the administrator password. Any XP cd will work.

Once you get into the recovery console, type

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

Now here's the thing. Once done, you'll (hopefully) be able to boot into Windows. However some of your programs may not work and will need reinstalling. This is because you just rewrote the system files with the original thats placed in the repair folder when XP is installed.

Good luck.

embrik

Could be a failing HD. Before you do as redimpulse suggested, type "chkdsk /r " w/o quotes. That will force a check and repair of the drive. If you get any errors, a copy of those files probably won't help to begin with.

DrFrylock

Moreover, that sort of error can be indicative of a bad...well, anything. I've had a similar error show up because of a bad RAM module, a bad motherboard, and a bad RAM socket. Run memtest as well.

Masked_Mullet

so basically my parents computer is pretty much kicking the shitter soon? cause well i just rebooted the whole thing. and currently it seems to be working fine.

3lwap0

Masked_Mullet wrote: »

so basically my parents computer is pretty much kicking the shitter soon? cause well i just rebooted the whole thing. and currently it seems to be working fine.

Basically, it could be anything - but in my expierence, it's usually the OS being long overdue for a re-install. As mentioned previously, a hardware failure could also do it quite easily as well.

My suggestions - run a chkdsk /f /r first. You'll have to reboot, and it can take a while, but that's as good as it gets for self repair without a copy of the OS. The upside to this is bad sectors will get flagged, and the OS won't attempt to write to those parts of the HD anymore. The badside -well, that means your HD is dying.

After that, reboot the machine and boot to your OS install disk. Go through the setup deal, and then go into the repair screen. It'll take a bit to do it's thing, and you'll reboot.

Now, that stuff isn't a panacea - nothing can substitute a good OS re-install - but use it as a guide to nail down whether it's OS, or hardware.

DrFrylock

If a reboot fixed the problem, then the problem is intermittent. Corrupt files are, 99% of the time, not intermittent. They happen all the time. You've got a strong indicator that some piece of hardware has gone flaky. I'd suggest backing up all the data ASAP while the machine is still running in case it's the disk. You can also run some disk diagnostics from your hard disk manufacturer.