Windows 32 corrupt

Friend asked me to look at his Laptop with boot problems. On Boot list fails at
\windows\system32\config\system so am trying to repair. Am using the first ''R'' in recovery console and am typing ROM Letters from 'E' onwards as Partitions are 'C' & 'D' but I get the continual no can do loop' I am entering command as E or F:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM am i missing another command ?

ACER ASPIRE5040
AMD TURION 64 1.8 GHTZ
ATAPI DVDRW SSM-85153-(SM)
MEMORY 446 MB

 

Read this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us
And this: http://icrontic.com/articles/repair_windows_xp
Print them out if possible and study them carefully before proceeding.
Good Luck!

 

Thanks for the answer dlb... had a look on M$ previous to your post but what a palava so foned my friend and he agreed a clean install.. He had a clean partition so loaded OS there then dragged data off.. Formatted then reinstalled.. Thanx agin