XP Corrupt/Missing Startup

About 4 days ago I was on my computer when it froze, screen went black after a moment, and it then it restarted.
At boot of Windows XP Pro an error message would appear.

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
\windows\system32\config\system

Well, I knew roughly what the problem was, went out and started looking up solutions on the forums, few attempts later I got a new error message.

NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart.

I hesitated to continue not knowing if I was doing more harm than good but decided to press on as the error was in the same category.
Then the final straw appeared.

"
Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.
Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware.
Please check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information.
"

So now I'm certain I'm doing more harm than good and humbly lay myself before you in hopes that you will have mercy and spare my computer.
I did consider just freshly reinstalling windows but there's data I would lose that hasn't been backed up yet. I do have a second hard drive I could install windows onto in which I could then browse the first hard drive's files, but my XPCD is on loan to a friend for a while, though I can wait if needed.

I hope I'm not just making it worse, as a side question, will a RAID setup help avoid system file corruption/deletion?
Thank you for any help.

 

Think you might be better of posting in malware dept after clicking on this link READ & RUN ME FIRST. Malware Removal Guide and following all the instructions if for any reason anything dosen't work while going through the instructions don't worry just keep going and then post your logs in malware dept then just be patient and you will get sorted !

Good Luck RJ !

 

I don't think the malware guide is going to do much good unless you can get into safemode. Have you tried safe mode (F8) as Windows starts?

Can you link to the steps you tried after the initial error?

 

There's another alternative like sach2 says, if you can get to the advanced options menu, try last known good config !

 

I thought I had tried both of these options but I did as suggested, neither option will allow me access, however the original error message is now displayed when attempting either

file \Windows\system32\config\SYSTEM error

The long error message is still displayed if I attempt to boot normally still.

Sorry for not mentioning that, I've tried doing so many things I'm not sure I even remember all of them (nor am I certain I've done them all correctly).

I'm certain the hard drive is working as BIOS sees it, it's name and size correctly.

Should have my XP CD back tomorrow.

 

I'll tell you the "\Windows\system32\config\SYSTEM error is not an easy one to recover from despite lots of guides on using recovery console to do so. If you can wait for your CD you will probably be better off doing a fresh install on the second HD and copying your personal files over. Then you could try a repair install on the first HD. Read through this guide http://www.smartcomputing.com/edito...es/2005/s1610/37s10/37s10.asp&articleid=28200 The repair may or may not be successful.

Not the most satisfying answer but in the long run it is one that will work and save you a lot of extra frustration in the recovery console trying to restore the SYSTEM file from backups that I've rarely seen successful.

 

I'll do that then, I was thinking I'd have to wait for the CD to come back and then do just that, most files are backed up somewhere but newer ones aren't including work files and several programs I've lost the CD to them.
I was just worried I was making things worse.
Thank you for your prompt replies and your assistance.
Happy New Year.

Oh yes, and will a RAID set up help prevent this situation?

 

Try this see if it helps

Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.

When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you must access from the Recovery Console.
When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
At the command prompt, type the appropriate commands to diagnose and repair your Windows XP installation.

CHKDSK C: /P
if you have more than 1 drive
CHKDSK D: /P
EXIT

Reboot