Re Windows XP repair/installation

[Guest]

About 12 months ago I upgraded the OS on an IBM Thinkpad T22. I upgraded from
Windows 98 SE to XP Home Edition (SP2). This was an upgrade version. Somehow
3 young nephews & nieces (to whom I gave the Thinkpad to) have contrived to
corrupt XP.

The message I get is:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
\windows\system32\config\system

I have tried to:
1. Repair an existing XP installation (using the Windows XP HE recovery
console) booting from the XP original disc.

I have used the HELP function within the console to use the 'bootcfg'
command to try to repair the installation.
Using the 'bootcfg /list' command I see 4 entries in the boot list. Only one
of these is a Windows XP HE installation. I'm not quite sure what the other 3
entries are. The location of this installation is C:\Windows. So I know it is
installed. I then use the 'bootcfg /rebuild' to try to repair this
installation. I enter the Windows installation number to be repaired - No 1
as it's the only installation and hit the return key. This doesn't appear to
have any effect when I then return to the BIOS and put 'hard disc' at the top
of the boot from list.

2. Alternatively I have tried a new installation of XP from the recovery
console. I am now told I don't have a previous version of Windows to upgrade
from. Since the laptop was 2nd hand (it was only for 3 young children) it
came with Windows 98 SE already installed and no disc was supplied. I presume
when I upgraded to XP all 98 files/settings etc were overwritten hence I now
cannot do a re-install from the XP disc.

Can anyone suggest any solutions to the above short of using my full XP disc
that came with my desktop?

Many thanks

 

[Guest]

Hi John, I had the same message once, and I can tell you what it means...
System - which is a rather large file housed on the harddrive - has been
corrupted (believes mine was like 2.2mb in size. ) At anyrate, what I did was
rename SYSTEM to SYSTEM.OLD and I restarted the PC. I don't recall if I tried
copying System from the C:\_Restore folder, or if I expanded it from the
Install CD - I think I just rebooted. But what happens next is that Windows
XPs initial Installation resumes, configuring the system for final startup.
What I did once I got back into windows was make a backup of all my non
replaceable data, and then I reformated and re-installed XP.

Hope this helps ya.