Boot/Windows XP Help

[stryphe]

Hello all.

I recently came down with a common boot problem... Every time I try to
turn my computer on it says WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM is corrupt
or missing and how I can attempt to fix the problem. I have a Windows
XP disk, it's an upgrade disk with SP2 on it. The Windows that my
computer currently has is one from 4 to 5 years ago and doesn't have
SP2. So I put in my disk, and I try to boot the Recovery Console,
everything's going according to planned, and then it asks me which
Windows system I would like to log onto for the Recovery Console. I
choose the only available option, 1, and it just freezes after that..
It won't do anything. After this, I tried just doing a clean
installation. After I press F8 to show that I agree with everything,
it goes to "Searching for previous versions of Microsoft Windows" and
just sits there. I have no idea what to do at this point, so if anyone
could help me out, I would greatly appreciate it.

-Anthony

 

[POP]

In

Hello all.

I recently came down with a common boot problem... Every time
I try
to turn my computer on it says WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
is
corrupt or missing and how I can attempt to fix the problem. I
have
a Windows XP disk, it's an upgrade disk with SP2 on it. The
Windows
that my computer currently has is one from 4 to 5 years ago and
doesn't have SP2. So I put in my disk, and I try to boot the
Recovery Console, everything's going according to planned, and
then
it asks me which Windows system I would like to log onto for
the
Recovery Console. I choose the only available option, 1, and
it just
freezes after that.. It won't do anything. After this, I tried
just
doing a clean installation. After I press F8 to show that I
agree
with everything, it goes to "Searching for previous versions of
Microsoft Windows" and just sits there. I have no idea what to
do at
this point, so if anyone could help me out, I would greatly
appreciate it.

-Anthony

Well, let's see: It's an "upgrade" CD, and it's looking for an
old version of the sofware on the disk, so it can upgrade it.
What do YOU think should be done? Until you get an operating
system for it to upgrade, your upgrade CD has nothing to upgrade.

 

[Guest]

since it is an upgrade, there had to be a previous version installed
somewhere and at sometime. you can use the cd to "repair" the current
installation. but before it will work, you should find an older windows an
either install it in a unique directory or have the disks ready when the
upgrade cd asks for them.

If you have a dos disk and can boot to the cdrive you can probably repair it
manually. see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

First, I would have tried tapping F8 function key as pc is starting (powering up) or rebooting.
Get to a selective startup menu, and select "Last Known Good Configuration".

Anthony said

So I put in my disk, and I try to boot the Recovery Console,
everything's going according to planned, and then it asks me which
Windows system I would like to log onto for the Recovery Console. I
choose the only available option, 1, and it just freezes after that..

If after selecting "1", and IF you saw a C: prompt ....then you were successful in getting into Recovery Console.
Do not expect to see the normal flashing cursor.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

since it is an upgrade, there had to be a previous version installed
somewhere and at sometime.

No, not at all true. The requirement to use an upgrade version is to *own* a
previous qualifying version's installation CD, not to have it installed.
When setup doesn't find a previous qualifying version installed, it will
prompt you to insert its CD as proof of ownership. Just insert the previous
version's CD, and follow the prompts. Everything proceeds quite normally and
quite legitimately.

 

[Anna]

Hello all.

I recently came down with a common boot problem... Every time I try to
turn my computer on it says WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM is corrupt
or missing and how I can attempt to fix the problem. I have a Windows
XP disk, it's an upgrade disk with SP2 on it. The Windows that my
computer currently has is one from 4 to 5 years ago and doesn't have
SP2. So I put in my disk, and I try to boot the Recovery Console,
everything's going according to planned, and then it asks me which
Windows system I would like to log onto for the Recovery Console. I
choose the only available option, 1, and it just freezes after that..
It won't do anything. After this, I tried just doing a clean
installation. After I press F8 to show that I agree with everything,
it goes to "Searching for previous versions of Microsoft Windows" and
just sits there. I have no idea what to do at this point, so if anyone
could help me out, I would greatly appreciate it.

-Anthony

Anthony:
Take a look at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/

You can give the "Guided Help" routine that's described in that KB article a
shot and hope it works. But frankly, it didn't work for us the few times
we've used it.

What did work for us (at least a few times) was undertaking a Repair install
of XP. I trust you know how to perform this operation (*not* the Recovery
Console "repair"). If possible, before undertaking this operation connect
the problem HD as a secondary HD and (hopefully) if you can access its
contents, copy whatever files are important to you. Better yet would be for
you to first clone the contents of that drive to another HD assuming you
have a disk imaging program to do so.
Anna