Windows XP won't boot

Hi guys,

Really hope you can help me with this one.

My dad switched on his PC (Dell, running XP) a couple of days ago and it started booting as normal. However, when he reached the log-in screen and clicked on his user icon, it just sat there showing the egg timer. He left this for some time, and nothing happened, so he unplugged the PC from the wall and started again.

This time, however, once past the BIOS screen, he encountered a black screen with the following message:

"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."

Rather than try locating the setup disk, I tried safe mode, last known good configuration etc, but all roads lead to the same message.

I finally gave in, found the CD and tried booting from that, but I still get the same problem. I tried disabling all other drives, except the CD drive, but it says it can't locate the drive (I know it's working, as I recently installed some Belkin software on there).

Does anyone know anything I can do to get this system working? Or is it completely knackered?

Thanks in advance.

 

If your getting the same problem, your still booting the HD not the CD. Are you sure you have the Dell Operating System CD that your trying to boot from. Dell computers come with many CD's. Only the OS CD will boot.

If you do get it to boot the CD, at the first screen type "R" and hit enter. Then select your partition if asks you to and type "chkdsk /R" and hit enter. This could take from a few minutes to several hours to complete depending on the size and condition of the drive.

After completion try booting the HD again and let us know how it went.

 

Also, run fixboot and fixmbr

 

Hi, thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

As mentioned in my original message, disabling the HD so that only the CD can be selected as a boot option simply results in the drive not being found.

Oh, and I did an idiot check - I'm definitely using the OS CD!

Any other ideas of a way round this?

 

How are you "disabling" the HD, in the BIOS. You would also need to make sure the CDROM drive is allowed to boot in the BIOS.