Missing or Corrupt file

[Guest]

My laptop crashed in the middle of a Microsoft update, now when I try to boot
I get the following msg "windows could not start because the following file
is missing or corrupt: \windows\system32\config\system". I can boot to the
recovery console and have tried a few things such as copy ntldr and ntdetect
to the root c:\ from the cd and also Del the boot.ini and carry out a
bootcfg /rebuild but the same msg re-appears when i try to boot again. Does
anyone have suggestions as I feel that I am going around in circles.
Thanks for any responses

 

[Malke]

My laptop crashed in the middle of a Microsoft update, now when I try to boot
I get the following msg "windows could not start because the following file
is missing or corrupt: \windows\system32\config\system". I can boot to the
recovery console and have tried a few things such as copy ntldr and ntdetect
to the root c:\ from the cd and also Del the boot.ini and carry out a
bootcfg /rebuild but the same msg re-appears when i try to boot again. Does
anyone have suggestions as I feel that I am going around in circles.
Thanks for any responses

How to Troubleshoot Registry Corruption Issues -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=822705
Corrupted Registry Recovery -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q307545


Malke

 

[Bruce Chambers]

My laptop crashed in the middle of a Microsoft update, now when I try to boot
I get the following msg "windows could not start because the following file
is missing or corrupt: \windows\system32\config\system". I can boot to the
recovery console and have tried a few things such as copy ntldr and ntdetect
to the root c:\ from the cd and also Del the boot.ini and carry out a
bootcfg /rebuild but the same msg re-appears when i try to boot again. Does
anyone have suggestions as I feel that I am going around in circles.
Thanks for any responses

How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry that Prevents Windows XP from
Starting
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545

Once you've recovered, you might want to look here, as well:

How to Troubleshoot Registry Corruption Issues
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822705



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Guest]

I tried the suggestion from MALKE but the first line failed with "The file
could nt be copied" so I think that there maybe some attribe or security
problem associated with the file?
Any other suggestions?

 

[Guest]

I managed to change the attribe and carry out the commands, I think I am
almost there as windows begins to load but even if I choose safe mode I get
20 lines of script then it hangs.
Any suggestions from here?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I managed to change the attribe and carry out the commands, I think I am
almost there as windows begins to load but even if I choose safe mode I get
20 lines of script then it hangs.
Any suggestions from here?

Where does it "Hang?" What is the name of the driver in the last line?
This file may be corrupt and preventing the continuation.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Guest]

Hi Bruce and all other helpers first can I say thank you for trying to assist
me.
Well I try to start in safe mode and it runs 20 odd lines of text and stops
at one which is
"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows\system32\Drivers\atisgkaf.sys
If i try the recovery console it asks for an Administrators password which I
have never set and consequently dont know the password and if I try normal
mode I get teh windows xp screen with a blue bar moving across but then it
just stops and displays a blank screen.

I do notice that just after the POST a msg quickly flashes that mentions a
problem with the boot.ini. I do not know if i can copy a boot.ini or
re-create one. The laptop has one hard drive with windows loaded on the
first partition and data on the other.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi Bruce and all other helpers first can I say thank you for trying to assist
me.
Well I try to start in safe mode and it runs 20 odd lines of text and stops
at one which is
"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows\system32\Drivers\atisgkaf.sys

That sounds like a driver associated with an ATI video controller.
Does the computer have an ATI video card?

If i try the recovery console it asks for an Administrators password which I
have never set and consequently dont know the password ....

The password being requested is that of the built-in
_Administrator_ account, not the password for any other administrative
user accounts that the computer's owner may have created. Unless the
owner deliberately set the Administrator's password via the Management
Console (_not_ the Control Panel), it's probably still blank. WinXP Pro
asks the installer to set the Administrator's password during
installation, but WinXP Home doesn't.

How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or Your
Password Expires
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q321305

Failing that, Linux-based password cracking utilities abound on the
Internet, freely available to anyone who can use Google.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Guest]

Yes Bruce the video is ATI Radeon IGP 345M

That sounds like a driver associated with an ATI video controller.
Does the computer have an ATI video card?




The password being requested is that of the built-in
_Administrator_ account, not the password for any other administrative
user accounts that the computer's owner may have created. Unless the
owner deliberately set the Administrator's password via the Management
Console (_not_ the Control Panel), it's probably still blank. WinXP Pro
asks the installer to set the Administrator's password during
installation, but WinXP Home doesn't.

How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or Your
Password Expires
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q321305

Failing that, Linux-based password cracking utilities abound on the
Internet, freely available to anyone who can use Google.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Guest]

Yes Bruce the video is ATI Radeon IGP 345M, I did think that safe mode did
not load video drivers?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Yes Bruce the video is ATI Radeon IGP 345M, I did think that safe mode did
not load video drivers?

Even Safe Mode has to load some sort of rudimentary video drivers; if
the built-in VGA drivers won't work with a specific adapter, the
manufacturer's drivers would have to be used.

You might try booting the computer with a Linux CD and replacing that
one file to see if it's the problem. If that doesn't work, you might
have to consider a Repair installation of WinXP:

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Guest]

I installed XP over the old system so that i could access the information.
Thanks to Bruce and Malke, this case is now closed. Thank you again