M
Mike Gibson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Windows could not start because the following file is
missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows
Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Above is the message that I got after I booted my computer
named BOB this morning. It worked normally yesterday.
BOB is based on an AMD Athlon 800 chip on a ASUS
motherboard, and has worked for several years now. I now
use BOB as a fileserver, on a simple peer to peer network
with 3 or 4 other XP Pro machines. BOB usually doesn't
have a CD ROM drive physically installed, since I use all
of the IDE channels (ATA100 actually) for the four hard
drives that are installed. When I install the OS, I
remove the drives from the secondary IDE bus, and connect
the CD ROM drive, removing it after the OS install is
complete, and reactivating the E:\ and F:\ drives after
rebooting. All drives are Maxtors (3 - 120GB drives and
1 - 40GB, all ATA 133, connceted with 80 pin cables to the
motherboard. Slave/Master settings are correctly set on
the drives.
In September, I wanted to upgrade this machine to all
modern OS and hard drives, so:
I bought BOB's copy of XP Pro at CBW, on or around Sept
15, 2003, along with a 40 GB Maxtor HD to use as the new
C:\ boot drive. I installed XP Pro on BOB, successfully
it seemed, and after activating Windows XP, turning it off
and on several times, it failed with the message above.
This was a day or two after I seemed to have it working
well.
I reinstalled the Windows XP OS, got it all working again,
and Activated it again. It has worked perfectly since
then (Sept. 18 approx.) Jump forward approx. 2.5 months
to today -
Today I turn on the computer, and got the message at the
top of this note. I reinstalled Windows XP and seemed to
recover ok, with just about 1.5 hours of downtime/repair.
I disconnected the CD ROM drive from the machine, and re-
setup my E: and F: drives, successfully. All data intact,
apparently. I powered down and next time I powered up I
got the message above again. I have to find out what's
wrong, or how to keep this from happening.
Some notes that may be pertinent: BOB the computer has
never been connected to the Internet. I haven't installed
the Windows XP patches and upgrades on this machine, like
I have on all my other Windows XP machines. (Still It
worked for over two months, seemingly perfectly, without
the upgrades/patches). BOB is connected to a network to
other computer which are connected to the Internet
frequently.
Suggestions please? I bought this OS as OEM, legally, as
I also bought a major computer part (the harddrive) at the
same time.
Thanks in advance,
Mike Gibson
Windows could not start because the following file is
missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows
Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Above is the message that I got after I booted my computer
named BOB this morning. It worked normally yesterday.
BOB is based on an AMD Athlon 800 chip on a ASUS
motherboard, and has worked for several years now. I now
use BOB as a fileserver, on a simple peer to peer network
with 3 or 4 other XP Pro machines. BOB usually doesn't
have a CD ROM drive physically installed, since I use all
of the IDE channels (ATA100 actually) for the four hard
drives that are installed. When I install the OS, I
remove the drives from the secondary IDE bus, and connect
the CD ROM drive, removing it after the OS install is
complete, and reactivating the E:\ and F:\ drives after
rebooting. All drives are Maxtors (3 - 120GB drives and
1 - 40GB, all ATA 133, connceted with 80 pin cables to the
motherboard. Slave/Master settings are correctly set on
the drives.
In September, I wanted to upgrade this machine to all
modern OS and hard drives, so:
I bought BOB's copy of XP Pro at CBW, on or around Sept
15, 2003, along with a 40 GB Maxtor HD to use as the new
C:\ boot drive. I installed XP Pro on BOB, successfully
it seemed, and after activating Windows XP, turning it off
and on several times, it failed with the message above.
This was a day or two after I seemed to have it working
well.
I reinstalled the Windows XP OS, got it all working again,
and Activated it again. It has worked perfectly since
then (Sept. 18 approx.) Jump forward approx. 2.5 months
to today -
Today I turn on the computer, and got the message at the
top of this note. I reinstalled Windows XP and seemed to
recover ok, with just about 1.5 hours of downtime/repair.
I disconnected the CD ROM drive from the machine, and re-
setup my E: and F: drives, successfully. All data intact,
apparently. I powered down and next time I powered up I
got the message above again. I have to find out what's
wrong, or how to keep this from happening.
Some notes that may be pertinent: BOB the computer has
never been connected to the Internet. I haven't installed
the Windows XP patches and upgrades on this machine, like
I have on all my other Windows XP machines. (Still It
worked for over two months, seemingly perfectly, without
the upgrades/patches). BOB is connected to a network to
other computer which are connected to the Internet
frequently.
Suggestions please? I bought this OS as OEM, legally, as
I also bought a major computer part (the harddrive) at the
same time.
Thanks in advance,
Mike Gibson