Computer Finally Crashed

[tonita]

I have a Dell Insprion 600m running xp since brand new. It finally died. I have all the original disks that came with the computer and wonder if I can fix it.

I and getting a message that windows/system32/config/system is missing or corrupt.

I have tried to start if with the disc in but I get that message. Is there anything I can do?

Thanks

 

[Paul]

I have a Dell Insprion 600m running xp since brand new. It finally died. I have all the original disks that came with the computer and wonder if I can fix it.

I and getting a message that windows/system32/config/system is missing or corrupt.

I have tried to start if with the disc in but I get that message. Is there anything I can do?

Thanks

Whether it can be fixed, depends on:

1) Whether System Restore was enabled.
2) Whether the hard drive has severe problems or not.
The repair may not work, if the hard drive is failing.

and finally

3) Whether you made backup copies of the hard drive
contents, for the day when this would happen.
I keep a 3TB drive next to my computer, which has
an image of all internal drives on it. The backup
was made a week ago using Macrium. The drive was
purchased only for backups. To hold a single image
of the computer.

*******

This is the procedure for restoring the SYSTEM registry file,
using a two stage process. First, you replace the registry
with an "empty" set of files. (The Registry consists of
a set of five files. Newer OSes may use more files.)
This is for the purpose of getting the computer to boot again.

The second step, is to use the latest System Restore point,
as it has the actual, populated registry entries. The System
Restore takes a snapshot of the Registry, so those would
be your actual "good files". SYSTEM would be one of the
recovered files from there.

"How to recover from a corrupted registry that
prevents Windows XP from starting"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

# The important steps, followed by reboot
# These files hold *none* of your preferences, so are useless
# for normal operation of the computer. They're to make the
# computer boot, and that is all.

copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default

You will notice that the procedure uses the Recovery Console,
for the file copying in Part 1. A retail WinXP installer CD,
can boot to the Recovery Console. The Recovery Console can
also be installed, before the fact, into the OS, so Recovery
boots from the hard drive. I have that feature, but have
never used it. You could also attempt the procedure, using an
AVIRA NTFS4DOS boot floppy, as without the NTFS driver, normal
MSDOS floppies could not access C:. It would be very very painful
to do it that way. If your C: drive happens to be FAT32 (unlikely),
then even an MSDOS floppy made on a Win98 machine (sys a could be
used. Machines like a Dell, should not be using FAT32. Only
home installers like me, use FAT32

So really, the limiting step, is the ability to copy the
files in Part 1. The rest relies on the health of your
OS. If you have System Restore turned off, then there won't
be any "good" copies of the Registry to use. The "Empty"
registry files are not really all that useful, except
to promote emergency booting of the computer.

Another way you could do the file copy step, is from Linux.
Or, you could boot a Windows 7 or Windows 8 retail installer
type DVD, and use the recovery console in those. I don't know
if those would screw up permissions on any files or not.

Good luck,
Paul

 

[Mayayana]

| I and getting a message that windows/system32/config/system is missing or
corrupt.
|
| I have tried to start if with the disc in but I get that message. Is
there anything I can do?
|
It depends on what died.
It sounds like it could just be a corrupt OS (as opposed
to a dead hard disk or other hardware problem). If "the disk"
is a system restore disk it should work to reinstall, but it
sounds like it's not booting from the disk drive. When the
system boots you should see a quick message that tells you
to press F* or maybe the Delete key for boot options and/or
for BIOS access. Different computers work differently. You
can look up the options for your system online or in your
manual. However it works, it will require you to hold
down a key during the early part of boot.

The BIOS settings typically have boot order settings. If
you put CD/DVD first then that will boot if there's a bootable
disk in there. More recently some companies have overridden
those options with a "consumer" boot menu so that people
won't need to go into the BIOS settings. The whole thing is not
difficult. It's just difficult to explain because there are no
standards for how a computer should operate, so the particulars
about how to boot from the CD drive can vary.

In any case, you may be able to re-install fresh if you get
the CD to boot. Failing that, you may be able to install
fresh if you boot into a hidden restore partition, which may
also be presented as a boot option. If those don't work then
there could be a hardware problem. If one of those does
work then you might want to consider making disk images
and storing them on CDs so you'll have a copy of the system
for later, even if the hard disk dies.

 

[Ben Myers]

I have a Dell Insprion 600m running xp since brand new. It finally died. I have all the original disks that came with the computer and wonder if I can fix it.
I and getting a message that windows/system32/config/system is missing or corrupt.
I have tried to start if with the disc in but I get that message. Is there anything I can do?
Thanks

Start the computer without the disc, tap the F8 key repeatedly until the boot menu appears
and select "Last known good configuration".

Ben

 

[Stef]

I have a Dell Insprion 600m running xp since brand new. It finally died.
I have all the original disks that came with the computer and wonder
if I can fix it.

Pretty old. 8+ years or so? Things do wear out.

What do you mean by "finally died?" Exactly. More info would
help. Doesn't power up? Doesn't POST? Won't boot? Does boot, but
hangs? Etc?

Can you get to the BIOS screen? Usually done by pressing the DEL key
after you first power it on. If you can, set the boot order to put the
CDROM first. Insert a bootable CD. A Linux LiveCD is perfect. Doesn't
matter which distro. Or insert you XP install CD. Reboot.

How did the boot go?

I and getting a message that windows/system32/config/system is
missing or corrupt.

Windows has a perchant for breaking itself. Or could be your hard drive
is failing. Or your system is infected. Try booting in Safe Mode.
Repeatedly press the F8 key after the machine POSTs to get the boot
option screen. You may have to try several times. Timing is
everything. Pick Safe Mode with Networking. See if it boots. Any
errors?

If it boots, do a malware scan using Malwarebytes' AntiMalware and
SuperAntispyware. You'll have to download them. Do the FULL scan.

I have tried to start if with the disc in but I get that message.
Is there anything I can do?

Doesn't sound like the machine is set to first check the CD drive to
boot from. This is normal. I've NEVER come across a Windows machine
where the hard drive isn't set first for booting by default. Change the
boot order, and see if the XP CD boots.

FWIW: This is an old machine. Hardwarewise, things could be failing,
or it could be a fault in Windows. If it's software, that can be fixed,
usually. If it's hardware, other than a failing hard drive, repairing
will probably be uneconomical. Hard drives are easy to replace.

Another thing to consider is just getting a new laptop.


Stef

 

[BillW50]

Pretty old. 8+ years or so? Things do wear out.

Are you sure? My first two laptops (a Epson PX-8 and a Sharp PC4501) I
ever owned from the 80's are still running just like new. The batteries
are long dead, but they run fine from the AC.

 

[Stef]

Are you sure? My first two laptops (a Epson PX-8 and a Sharp PC4501) I
ever owned from the 80's are still running just like new. The batteries
are long dead, but they run fine from the AC.

No, I'm not. That's why in the next paragraph which you snipped I asked
the OP to qualify what he meant by "finally died."

But, in general, yes. things do wear out, or fail, for one reason or
another. And two examples of very old laptops that haven't, doesn't
mean they won't eventually, or that many others haven't already.


Stef

 

[Ken Springer]

No, I'm not. That's why in the next paragraph which you snipped I asked
the OP to qualify what he meant by "finally died."

But, in general, yes. things do wear out, or fail, for one reason or
another. And two examples of very old laptops that haven't, doesn't
mean they won't eventually, or that many others haven't already.

And it also matters how much use it gets. 1 hour a month, or 100 hours
a month. If you don't use them at all, they'll never wear out. <G>

--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 25.0
Thunderbird 24.6.0
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"

 

[Stef]

He did say it was a missing or corrupted file/directory. That *might*
be a bad hard drive or perhaps just a software glitch. That is far
from making an otherwise good machine solid waste.

Yes, he did. And since 90% of my response to the OP has been snipped
from this thread, what I recommended doing before considering throwing
it away is not shown.

Stef

 

[Stef]

And it also matters how much use it gets. 1 hour a month, or 100 hours
a month. If you don't use them at all, they'll never wear out. <G>

True for the most part. But some electronic components will degrade
over time to the point of failure even if they aren't powered on.

Stef

 

[BillW50]

And it also matters how much use it gets. 1 hour a month, or 100 hours
a month. If you don't use them at all, they'll never wear out. <G>

Some electronic components seems to last longer if they are used.
Electrolytic capacitors tends to be this way for example. This machine
is 8 years old and it usually runs 12 hours a day and sometimes 24/7.
And these M465 doesn't have a high failure rate and I think I'll get
another 20 to 30 good years out of it.

I have another M465, but that one usually just records TV programs. But
it has been running for years doing this. I do believe that one will
last just as long too. If I am wrong, I have five more M465 to go
through before I am in trouble.

 

[BillW50]

If he just wants to throw it away, I will send him a prepaid "click
and ship" label and he can throw it this way ;-)

There are tons of machines out there like on eBay that you can buy for
practically just the cost of shipping. Like I purchased one Motion
Computing LE1700 Windows tablet for 20 bucks and it looked virtually
brand new.

Sure somebody robbed the battery, hard drive, AC adapter, and stylus
from it. That didn't bother me since I had this stuff in spare parts
anyway. Somebody also tried to plug something into one of the two USB
ports and ruined it.

My guess is when it was new, it was assigned to somebody and they broke
the USB port right away. And it probably sat in a stockroom or something
and they later had taken some other parts from it over the years until
the lease was up.

I thought about repairing that USB port, but my dock adds three more USB
ports so it isn't a very high priority. And most Windows tablets today
only has one USB port anyway. And it will run XP, Vista, 7, or 8 just fine.

 

[BillW50]

No, I'm not. That's why in the next paragraph which you snipped I asked
the OP to qualify what he meant by "finally died."

I know and I clipped it because I saw it as being irrelevant to the
belief that electronics do wear out.

But, in general, yes. things do wear out, or fail, for one reason or
another. And two examples of very old laptops that haven't, doesn't
mean they won't eventually, or that many others haven't already.

The whole idea behind solid state components is there are no moving
parts and thus never wear out. Of course they still can have failures
due to one reason or another. But I think you will be surprised how long
some of this stuff will last. I wouldn't be surprised if some will last
hundreds if not thousands of years from now.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>,

That machine is probably not big enough to run 7 effectively.

What part of "Buy a new computer" didn't you understand? (Though in this
case I think it's an over-drastic response to what is probably just a
corrupted file.)

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>,

The Dell salesman has spammed us

More a troll than a Dell salesman, I think. Posting the above in this
newsgroup can't be anything other than trolling (I'm almost surprised it
didn't get maliciously cross-posted, too).

 

[BillW50]

From: "J. P. Gilliver (John)" <[email protected]>



Maybe but since it isn't a new platform and WinXP is a dead OS, it is a
good impetus to move on to Win 7.

XP is dead? It still works like it always did. Oh you mean by Microsoft
stopped providing updates? That doesn't mean anything, this one hasn't
had any updates for 8 years now. Firefox still updates, Thunderbird
still updates, and Avast is still updating definitions. And all of my
applications still works. So how is that dead?

By the way I also have Windows 7, 8, and 8.1U1 machines and XP is still
my favorite. Trust me, it is far from being dead.

 

[Mayayana]

| Maybe but since it isn't a new platform and WinXP is a dead OS, it is a
good
| impetus to move on to Win 7.
|

That's two people in one thread who think that XP is
dead. I thought this was an XP group. Have I mistakenly
stumbled into microsoft.marketing.obsolescence?

 

[BillW50]

In Mayayana typed:

That's two people in one thread who think that XP is
dead. I thought this was an XP group. Have I mistakenly
stumbled into microsoft.marketing.obsolescence?

I think they believe every word that Microsoft mutters. :-(

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

| Maybe but since it isn't a new platform and WinXP is a dead OS, it is a
good
| impetus to move on to Win 7.
|

That's two people in one thread who think that XP is
dead. I thought this was an XP group. Have I mistakenly
stumbled into microsoft.marketing.obsolescence?

As far as I'm concerned, it's obsolescent, but not quite obsolete yet.

 

[Stef]

I know and I clipped it because I saw it as being irrelevant to the
belief that electronics do wear out.

Belief? Fact. And there are millions of electonic techs out
there making very good livings fixing (or replacing) those
broken/worn out/failed/degraded/whateveryouwanttocallit
solid-state parts. I've even replaced a few myself.

The whole idea behind solid state components is there are no moving
parts and thus never wear out. Of course they still can have failures
due to one reason or another. But I think you will be surprised how long
some of this stuff will last. I wouldn't be surprised if some will last
hundreds if not thousands of years from now.

Never wear out? Great idea. So far, just a concept. The reality of it
has yet to be achieved. I doubt it ever will. Nothing lasts forever.

Last a 100 or a 1000 years? I wouldn't be surprised, too. I'd be very,
very, very skeptical, bordering on incredulous. ;-)

Stef