windows\system32\config\system file corrupt

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gail Miller
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Gail Miller

Hello

My son (in a town 250 miles away from me) called to say he had gotten the
error message above.

The screen said he could try to repair Windows XP by inserting the startup
disk and typing R at the setup screen.

He inserted the system recovery disk (1 of 2) and did not get a setup
screen. Instead, it offered options to boot to the command prompt or repair
Windows XP (which went on to say it would have to reformat the HDD and
reinstall windows xp).

Moreover, when he booted to the command prompt, he was getting a:\> -- not
d:\ which I think the CD-ROM drive is named. I did a quick Google search for
that error message and came up with a few suggestions from other news
groups -- but nothing that told us how to get from the A drive to the D
drive or to load the recovery console.

My son is very naive when it comes to computers, knowing only that they work
or don't when you turn them on! And I have been unable to find anything in
the knowledge base that suggests what to do.

I did read in a recent post to this newsgroup that system32 is not a valid
file -- but a virus. He claims his anti-virus program (McAfee) is thoroughly
up to date and I know it was when I visited there last week.

Any suggestions? He does not have an emergency bootdisk on a floppy -- but
when he ran a dir command at the command prompt, it returned 11 files (which
look like bootdisk files -- autoexec.bat, choice.com, command.com,
donfig.sys, ejectcd.exe, ghost.env, ghost.exe, himem.sys, mscdex.exe, and
two others I didn't write down).

Thanks so much in advance...

Gail Miller
Communications Consultant
Writing . Editing . Web Design
(e-mail address removed)
 
Hope this assists a little:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545
How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP from
Starting

When you try to start or restart your Windows XP-based computer, you may
receive one of the following error messages:

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM



Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE



Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive
(file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate
 
Hope this assists a little:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545
How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP from
Starting

When you try to start or restart your Windows XP-based computer, you may
receive one of the following error messages:
Click to expand...

Hello and thanks!

Are you telling me, then, that when the "boot to command prompt" results in:
a:\> that IS the Recovery Console -- and that the commands listed in the MS
Knowledge Base file should be written at the a:\> prompt? I haven't called
him yet, but all the other commands we tried writing there failed to produce
anything (e.g., chkdsk /p /r ... fixmbr ... help ... ) gave back an "invalid
command" message.

I would appreciate your clarifying that ... and also ... are we presuming
the registry is corrupted because the setup disk does not go to Windows
Setup -- or what?

Again...thanks in advance!

Gail Miller
 
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