System Crash-Root Directory Error!

[motleytwins]

My WIN XP just crashed in the middle of a major project.
My system locked up and when I rebooted, I got a blank
screen with the message: "Windows could not start because
the following file is missing or corrupt: <windows
root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe Please reinstall copy of the
above."

I have been looking on the Microsoft website and can't
find a fix. One article talks about booting to the
Recovery Console, but doesn't explain how. My system will
not do anything now except give me a blank screen and the
CPU just clicks. I found another article that talks about
Damage Registry Repair and Recovery in Windows XP, but
says to obtain the latest Windows XP Service Pack. I just
recently downloaded the latest service pack.

Please Help!

Thanks,

John

 

[davetest]

My WIN XP just crashed in the middle of a major project.
My system locked up and when I rebooted, I got a blank
screen with the message: "Windows could not start because
the following file is missing or corrupt: <windows
root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe Please reinstall copy of the
above."

I have been looking on the Microsoft website and can't
find a fix. One article talks about booting to the
Recovery Console, but doesn't explain how. My system will
not do anything now except give me a blank screen and the
CPU just clicks. I found another article that talks about
Damage Registry Repair and Recovery in Windows XP, but
says to obtain the latest Windows XP Service Pack. I just
recently downloaded the latest service pack.

Please Help!

Thanks,

John

Do you have the bootable XP cdrom, or some method of getting to the
recovery console?
If you do, I would get to the RC and run chkdsk /r.
That may fix it.

Dave