XP Home Laptop Will Not Boot PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

[gatorcellman]

I am using a Toshiba A60 Satellite that is (was) running XP home SP2
less than 6 months old. All of a sudden when I start it, it says
"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupt- \windows\system32\config\system"

When I tried to use the supplied Product Recovery DVD, it gave me
option to completely reinstall (and completely erase HD) or go into
some sort of utility that looked like a version of Ghost and Toshiba
combined but there were NO instructions as to how to use it. I
contacted Toshiba and they were absolutely NO HELP! They said the only
way to get it to boot again was to reformat and reinstall using the
DVDs The guy even suggested I open the machine, take out the HD and put
it in a external case to recover data. Of course this would void the
warranty!! The only other option I could think of was to use my XP Pro
disk to enter the recovery console, which I did, but I don't know what
commands would help me and even if I could use them because the CD is
XP Pro and the laptop XP Home! Why wouldn't Toshiba provide boot CDs
just to be able to boot the machine and I get my data, I just don't
know!!

Bottom line question is how do I get this laptop to boot so I can get
my data??? I am not extremely technical but know a little, so hacking
into windows, etc, etc is not really an option. I know I'm asking a
lot, but I really need specific suggestions and maybe even step by step
if needed. By the way, is this something I could send to Toshiba for
warranty claim? The guy said it was a software problem not hardware so
not covered by warranty. How would he know??? Could be a bad HD

PLEASE HELP! THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ MY POST!!!!!!

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

It would seem as though you have an OEM XP disk, which will only perform a
'Clean' install of XP. If that is the case, then I'm afraid with that error
message that could be the only way to go.

Reboot, then keep tapping the F8 key to see if you can access a screen that
has 'Last Known Good Configuration' as an option. Try that.

--


Will Denny
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

 

[gatorcellman]

Will, thanks for the tip, but unfortunately it doesn't work. Anything
to do with Windows comes up with the same message. Is there anything
else you can think of? Seems like Windows just disappeared from the HD.
If I could use the command "fixboot" from the XP pro recovery console,
would that destroy the data or is it worth giving a try?

 

[neil]

If you can access the hard drive from a boot disk you can try this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us
How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from
starting

Neil

 

[raymond.hebert]

I would get the hard drive diagnostic tool for Toshiba hard drives from
their support website. You should be able to run that to verify whether
or not your hard drive is at fault.

If it is, then you may be able to get a warranty replacement. Either
way, the best way to proceed from here is to start from scratch.
Backing up your data before you do that will be the hard part.

If you can get another hard drive and and ultrabay HDD adapter for your
model laptop, then you can take out the old HDD, put a clean install on
the new one and use the ultrabay to slave in the old one. If you think
that's way over your head, then I'd bring it to a -good- computer
repair store, i.e. not big box USA.