C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM corrupt

[Janice]

My son's friend has just bought a brand new PC from Time Computers. He set
it up, switched it on and got to the stage of entering a name for the PC. At
this point it froze completely. When he turned it on again, he got the error
quoted in the subject line.

However Time did not supply him with a Windows XP disk - it would cost an
extra £60 for this! - so he borrowed mine and tried to get it started. Next
day he asked my son for help. They seemed to follow the instructions of
pressing"r" and then didn't know what to choose next ( the blind leading the
blind, I think) so decided to exit out of it, with the intention of getting
on to Time Computers. However at this point, the PC booted into Windows with
a message of " bad section on disc". He ran check disc and everything was
fine after that. After installing a few programs ( not sure what ) he
installed a driver for a digital camera and then rebooted. Back to the
original error message.

I've given him the suggestions quoted above but also advised him to get on
to Time Computers. This problem has appeared twice on a one day old PC - to
my mind there is something wrong. Is it a hardware problem that causes it in
the first place?

Janice

 

[Rich Barry]

Janice, something is corrupting the System Registry. I would definitely
take it back to Time.

 

[Jym]

Brand new ? No Recovery disk ( maybe on a hidden hard drive partion ) ? Not
working ? Take it back ! Jym

 

[Janice]

I've told him at least twice to get back to Time. He keeps quoting peak
calling charges and the time it takes. Would rather try and fix it himself.
Last I heard he had phoned Time and they are sending the necessary(? )disc.
I'm afraid I wouldn't be putting up with this but then I wouldn't buy a
system from anywhere that didn't supply me with all the disks for drivers
and Windows! Apparently it was a better deal than the shop we recommended.

Janice