Windows XP startup error and now nothing!

Its an HP Pavilion xt963 running Windows XP. It was running really slow at first, and we leave it on. It's connected to a small t.v. screen for a monitor. When we switched over to it one day, the monitor would not come on. We had to reboot it several times to get it on, but then the monitor would keep shutting off by itself. Couple days later we booted it up and got the 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. Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair. So I put the CD in, but when I went to change the order in BIOS, it asked for a password, which I didn't have. So then I read somewhere online about removing the memory sticks one by one, which when I did the first one, it beeped a lot on boot up but the monitor would not start up. When I unplugged the monitor from the tower, it came on, but as soon as I plug it back in, the monitor goes into sleep mode. The keyboard doesn't seem to work either. Any suggestions?

 

Unless this is a second hand machine, then entering nothing and hitting 'enter' should get you in. If not, then you have to open the case up, find the round battery and remove it for 10 minutes, unless you have a manual for the motherboard and can change the jumper position for ten secs.

Then we go on.

 

Hi,
Just to clarify--you need to have the tower unplugged from A/C power when you remove the battery. On a unit that old it should definitely work to remove the BIOS password.