Can't access setup

  • Thread starter Thread starter Judy
  • Start date Start date
J

Judy

I'm trying to help our church secretary deal with a problem
that just came up. She says they have been having trouble
with the hard drive for a little while, but this has never
happened before: She went to start her computer and it
gave her a black screen with a message that says "Windows
could not start because the C:\windows\system32\config\syst
file is missing or corrupt."

She has tried to cold boot but the same message appears.
She has also cold booted with the installation disk for
Windows XP in the CD drive. However, it does not go to the
"Welcome to Setup" screen that the Knowledge Base Article
#823614 says should come up. Evidently we're supposed to
be able to get to a "repair a Windows XP installation using
Recovery Console, press R" option, but we can't get there.
She did have a BIOS setup screen come up at one point, but
we don't know if we need to do anything there or not.

Can someone help us? She's trying to get some things done
for church tomorrow and is in a real bind.

Thanks for your help!

Judy
 
I found bad mismatched ram caused that message to appear.
and I could not get the 'recovery console' to function at
all well.. and the instructions on KB paper 823614 are a
bit iffy... I'd suggest prayer but that did not help me
much, try calling Bill Gates.. PMH
 
-----Original Message-----
I'm trying to help our church secretary deal with a problem
that just came up. She says they have been having trouble
with the hard drive for a little while, but this has never
happened before: She went to start her computer and it
gave her a black screen with a message that says "Windows
could not start because the C:\windows\system32 \config\syst
file is missing or corrupt."

She has tried to cold boot but the same message appears.
She has also cold booted with the installation disk for
Windows XP in the CD drive. However, it does not go to the
"Welcome to Setup" screen that the Knowledge Base Article
#823614 says should come up. Evidently we're supposed to
be able to get to a "repair a Windows XP installation using
Recovery Console, press R" option, but we can't get there.
She did have a BIOS setup screen come up at one point, but
we don't know if we need to do anything there or not.

Can someone help us? She's trying to get some things done
for church tomorrow and is in a real bind.

Thanks for your help!

Judy
.
Repair install advice:
Click to expand...
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/repaxp.htm

You will have to enter your computer's BIOS - when it
boots there will be a key (e.g., F8) to press to do this.
Different computers use different keys. Once you're there
change the boot sequence so the computer boots from the CD
drive first. Then put the CD in the drive and re-boot.

Bill
 
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