System Files are damaged!

My computer crashed a little while ago and I didn't know why. When I restarted it I didn't get the regular start up screens. I got a black screen with a bunch of dialogue about the problem and some options to do something about the problem. I didn't know what to pick or what to do. There was a timer and it was running out so I picked an option that said something about starting the computer using my previous startup options even though there is still a problem. The computer started up fine and there have been no major problems but I want to fix this.

I used my Ontrack Fix-It program to try and repare the damage but it said that it couldn't and that the system files were damage. It said I should run SCANDISK with the FIX option to resolve the problem. I did that but it didn't work. I know it didn't work because I ran the Ontrack Fix-It program after just to make sure and it still says that the system files are damaged and that I should run SCANDISK.

I've thought about using the OS disk that came with my computer to fix the problem, but I thought I would ask the Geeks first.
Can someone explain what is wrong with my computer when the system files are damaged and how I can fix this problem?

My Specs are:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 2002
Serivce Pack 1
Dell DIMENSION DIM4500 Intel(R)
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.00 GHz
1.99 GHz
128 MB of RAM

If this is posted in the wrong forum please tell me or move it or whatever. Thanks for listening. And thanks for your help in advance.

 

I don't hink he is booting correclty which means sfc /scannow is an out.


I would boot to Recovery Console if you can, log in and then run chkdsk /r.

 

Thanks AbbySue and Adrynalyne, I will try that soon and let you two know how it turns out.

 

Well... hmmm... sounds like something had to cause it. Have you done anything to your comp that stands out in your mind prior to this problem? Uninstall anything? INstall anything? Update any drivers? Have you been playing around in the registry? Anything at all that you can think of that kind of stands out in your mind? Oh... also.. have you run a virus check?

 

I tried sfc /scannow first and it didn't do anything. It showed a progress bar and said it was in the process of checking my protected files. After it was done nothing happened.

Then I tried booting from the windows xp disk. I chose to rurn the chkdsk /p, chkdsk /r and regular chkdsk options. It said there were damaged areas that should be fixed. And eventually they were fixed.

But, I chose to use the Fix-It program just to make sure it was actually fixed and it wasn't totally fixed. It didn't say that my system files were damaged though. It said something similar like "system has errors on it. use chksdk /f to fix the problem." Again I did that and used Fix-It yet another time and guess what? It said that it was correcting bitmap files and that I should run chkdsk /f to fix the problem. I haven't done that yet because I thought I would post what I've done so far.

Any advice?