Repair Operation Problem

[Dell Christopher]

Clone desktop (PC Club)
WinXP Home
Western Digital SATA HD

Computer won't boot up and stops at following message:
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
C:\windows\system32\config\system

I removed the hard drive, attached it to another WinXP computer with
SATA/USB adapter cables, and did a "chkdsk x:/r" and virus scan. Then, when
I reconnected it to the original computer, I tried to do a Windows Repair
operation with the WinXP CD. When I pressed R for Repair, it failed to
detect a connected hard drive.

When I first turn on the computer, it briefly recognizes the hard drive on
the initial black screen. I also recall seeing the word RAID next to the
hard drive. There are no other hard drives inside and I feel there might be
some setting in System Set-up that needs attention, but I don't have a clue.

I hope this is enough information to get some helpful hints on how to
proceed. My goal is to either complete a Repair Operation or just reformat
the hard drive. Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Clone desktop (PC Club)
WinXP Home
Western Digital SATA HD

Computer won't boot up and stops at following message:
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
C:\windows\system32\config\system

I removed the hard drive, attached it to another WinXP computer with
SATA/USB adapter cables, and did a "chkdsk x:/r" and virus scan. Then,
when I reconnected it to the original computer, I tried to do a Windows
Repair operation with the WinXP CD. When I pressed R for Repair, it
failed to detect a connected hard drive.

When I first turn on the computer, it briefly recognizes the hard drive on
the initial black screen. I also recall seeing the word RAID next to the
hard drive. There are no other hard drives inside and I feel there might
be some setting in System Set-up that needs attention, but I don't have a
clue.

I hope this is enough information to get some helpful hints on how to
proceed. My goal is to either complete a Repair Operation or just
reformat the hard drive. Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

A Repair install won't help, as these use most if not all of the existing
registry, and the problem is with the registry. One of the hive files is
damaged.

Likewise, chkdsk won't help either. Virus scans will not address the
problem.

The drections for the repair are here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

It's actually pretty straightforward and can take about 20 minutes to fix.

If you don't have the XP Boot CD the directions refer to - not a problem, as
you have the hardware and know-how to attach the drive to another system.
Read and understand what the instructions are telling you to do, and you can
adapt them to go pretty much directly to the manual restore.

There *is* an issue if System Restore has been off on your system, as in
that case you won't have anything recent to restore with, and the default
registry won't know anything about any software you installed. The system
will run, but you'll have to reinstall everything,

HTH
-pk