Serious Crash - System32\Config\System

[John C. Yu]

Hi:

I have a serious system crash problem and hope someone can really help me.

My Windows XP in IBM R40 NB crashed the other day for reasons unknown.

When I rebooted the system, it showed a screen saying, the previous shut
down was not normal and requires me to select from a series of options: Safe
Mode,..., Normal boot.

But whatever option I selected, the boot cannot be completed and the system
will hang there.

I tried "Safe Mode" also, and it tells me that "System" file in
System32\Config is corrupted, and I shall use CD to repair it.

I tried to use original XP CD to repair but unsuccessful.

Finally, I installed another copy in another directory (C:\Windows1) and I
can see all files in C drive and the original system file in
C:\Windows\System32\Config

Can anyone help me to restore the original copy (and uninstall the new one
afterward)?

PS: I do not have emergency recovery disk since IBM R40 does not have floppy
disk.

Thanks so much.


Sincerely


John

 

[Alex Nichol]

But whatever option I selected, the boot cannot be completed and the system
will hang there.

I tried "Safe Mode" also, and it tells me that "System" file in
System32\Config is corrupted, and I shall use CD to repair it.

I tried to use original XP CD to repair but unsuccessful.

System32\Config\System is one of the files constituting the registry.

See method at http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;307545
Essentially you use the Recovery mode boot of the CD to copy the
System.sav file back over System (with no extension) in that \Config
folder. Maybe you will then need to copy similarly with other component
pairs, but the fewer you can get away with the better.

You then, once rebooted (even if only to SAfe Mode) use System restore
to go back a day or so to a sound registry