WIndows will not start

I am having problems with a desktop PC it is a Hewlett Packard pavillion, it has WIndows XP Home edition on it. When I try to boot it gives me a message that says.
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.
System32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys
Then it goes on to say.
You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using original setup CD-Rom.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.
This system was working fine yesterday until someone plugged a phone line into the modem. This PC is on a LAN using an ethernet but I am at a loss as to why that would cause this.
Well as far as the CD Rom I put the disc in and reboot and it will not start with the disc, I tried to boot in safe mode and tried all the options in that screen and I keep getting the same error message. It will not let me do anything.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Dan

 

If you can get to recovery console, then do a chkdsk /r.

 

You need to go to your BIOS setup and set your boot sectors so that it boots from a CD before it looks at a hard drive or set it to boot from CD (depends on which motherboard version/company you have)
Then your windows CD will boot and you can just repair it. Make sure you go to auto repair not to console one cuz console takes more experiance to work with.

 

Choosing to do a repair right off the bat is a bad idea.

 

Thanks for the replies, strange thing, I let it sit there idle with error screen open for a few hours and went in the there and tapped F8 and it booted in safe mode,, run a virus scan and it was clean then rebooted in normal mode and it is running fine now,,
Thanks for the quick replies and have a great day
Dan

 

Keep an eye on your ram.

Something sporadic like that would make me susipicious.

 

lol hey danny