BR88 said:
Everytime i start my computer, it comes up with a black screen saying:
Windows XP Professional could not start due to damage in/ or missing file:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM\ press r to repair, but nothing happens.
It's a laptop and I have no XP CD for it. The computer came with XP on it,
so all I've got is a product key on a label.
I can't start it in failsafe condition or anything else when I use F8, it
just goes back to the previous???
I can, however, enter the BIOS settings screen (F2), if that's any help.
I was wondering if I could just delete the whole thing and use the product
key or something to re-install XP???
Either that or any other help is very welcome!
WinXP has a feature called System Restore, where the OS makes copies
of key files, such as the registry files. It is possible to get out
of this mess, if System Restore was operational at the time of failure.
If System Restore was disabled for some reason (happens sometimes with
malware or procedures involving malware removal), then you may not be able
to get back to your previous good working system state.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545
The things to note about that procedure are:
1) You're replacing the corrupted file, with a relatively "empty" file.
That means, the first stage of the procedure, is only there
so that you can get the computer booted. If the computer were
to boot, the job is not finished. An "empty" file won't have
all your settings and customizations. Many things could be broken.
2) The step involving System Restore, is what finishes the job.
That replaces the "empty" temporary file, with an archived
copy that System Restore made within the last couple of days.
That restores almost all of your registry customizations.
Only the odd setting you changed within the last couple of
days, might not be kept. So the full procedure, including
using System Restore, to put back "good" registry files,
gets you almost exactly back where you were.
"The procedure that this article describes uses Recovery Console
and System Restore"
Recovery Console is something that comes with a real WinXP CD.
It can also be installed to your system, as a boot time option,
using a real WinXP CD.
But for machines like Dell or HP, there might not be a boot
time option to start up in the Recovery Console. There are some
options for doing it - I've seen at least one small ISO9660
image, which contains Recovery Console on it, for download.
It is possible, that a more advanced OS like Vista or Win7,
could have a maintenance option that does much the same thing.
It really depends on how desperate you are. You can always
head off to a computer shop, and get them to do the necessary
steps. (They would use the "slaving the hard drive" option,
which I describe next.)
http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/
Another option, if the recovery console is not (easily) available,
is to slave the hard drive from the laptop, to another computer.
If the 2.5" hard drive is IDE type, it has a 44 pin connector.
You can use a 44 pin to 40 pin adapter, to connect the drive
to a desktop computer. You can also get 44 pin IDE to USB
adapters, and plug in the 2.5" drive to a USB port. Then,
using regular file operations, you can do the step that
involves moving an "empty" copy of the file into
place, while the hard drive is slaved to another computer.
You'd still need to put the disk back in the laptop, then
boot it, and then use System Restore and restore to a recent,
known good restore point. And then you'd have a populated
registry file back in place again.
Once the machine is working again, come back for some suggestions
on backup strategies, burning a copy of your recovery partition
or whatever. The user manual for your computer, may have had
some valuable information, on things you should do immediately
after purchasing the computer, such as burning a copy of the
restore partition. In your current situation, the only thing
that would really have helped, is having a recent backup of
C:, because such a backup copy would have covered the case
that the WinXP System Restore function is broken.
(Example of a relatively painless backup solution)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148454
(This is the software it uses.)
http://www.howtogeek.com/reviews/rebit-backup-software/
HTH,
Paul
