Corrupted Registry Preventing Windows XP Starting

[Mal Goddard]

Help Please

I have had my PC about 18 months, after 4 months I got
the first of what have now been many system crashes where
on start up I get the error message 'Windows XP could not
start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM' I have followed the
process Microsoft published 'Q307545 How to Recover...'
which restores the system eventually. This has happened
on many occasions now and although there was a 6 month
gap when it did not occur it has now happened 3 times in
the past 3 weeks. This is driving me mad what is causing
it and more importantly what can I do to stop it
happening, Help please!!!(suicidal or Hampshire!!)

 

[Harry Ohrn]

Do you always shutdown your computer properly or do you often just hit the
power button to shut off the computer? I ask because your problem is related
to registry files becoming corrupt. If you always shut down correctly you
could have a hardware problem. The Hard Drive might need replacing or you
might have flaky RAM.

Try running CHKDSK /F to see if this is a problem with the hard drive that
can be fixed. Go to Start->Help and Support and enter chkdsk into the search
bar to learn how to use chkdsk.