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[PC won't boot - missing or corrupt file]

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by ackerberg, 2005/10/01.

  1. 2005/10/01
    ackerberg

    ackerberg Inactive Thread Starter

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    I received a message on one of my desktops, running WIN XP Home, that it couldn't boot into Windows because the following file is missing or corrupted:
    C\Windows\System32\Config\System
    I tried to boot into safe mode but received the same message. This computer is a Compaq Presario which does not come with a WIN XP CD. Instead there is an extra partition on the physical C-drive with all the windows files.
    Is it possible to have the computer start with the last good windows profile? If so, how do you do that?
    If I hit F10 when booting, I am brought to a screen which may be able to fix it without loss of data, but it may be necessary to reload some programs? Which ones is it referring to? Could this problem be caused by a virus or worm? I have NAV 2005 on the machine. Can I boot with the NAV CD? Would this be able to fix this problem?
     
  2. 2005/10/01
    mustardfromacat

    mustardfromacat Inactive

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    Hit F8 alot until a menu comes up. Either start with last known working configuration or load the restore option.
     

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  4. 2005/10/02
    oshwyn5

    oshwyn5 Inactive

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    How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting


    You see, in the old days (win98,and me), there were just two files user.dat and system.dat which got loaded to build your windows registry . If there was a problem , you just choose to load a previous registry(one of the five backup copies of each file saved and accessed from a command prompt as scanreg /restore) . But XP is different. Each time it shuts down , it goes throught the saving your settings ? Well when it does that, it saves things called hive files , some of which are unique to your user profile and some (like config\system) which save the current machine settings. When you boot up, it uses these files to create a new registry from scratch based on such things as which user is logging in . If one of these files is damaged or not saved when you shut down; it cannot be loaded to build a registry. Some of these files can be recovered by just using system restore (when you tap F8 once a second on bootup after the POST beep, and get a startup options menu where you could choose safe mode and there is an option "last known good "). Some can be fixed by booting to a different profile (user account). But there are a few, which if damaged must be restored using the recovery console. In your case, that is what happened.
     
    Last edited: 2005/10/02
  5. 2005/10/02
    ackerberg

    ackerberg Inactive Thread Starter

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    Here is what happened. In my caution to avoid a complete restore, I usually take my time with these problems. After attempting to boot the 4th time, WIN XP realized (yes, it must be a person) that something was wrong and decided to use the last good boot profile by itself. Thus, on the 4th attempt and after churning the hard drive for a while, it did boot into windows.
    Moral of this story. Never rush into a restore on WIN XP and try to boot it several before taking any drastic actions.
    Many thanks to all of you for responding.
    Looking at internet sites, this particular problem seems to occur fairly frequently and for all different reasons. I have no idea why this occurred to me, no new installs or changes were made. I think that WIN XP Home could be a little unstable and might jump from one location to another in a hurry and could corrupt a file. Conjecture!
    I also ran NAV 2005 by booting from the NAV CD and found no viruses present before the problem fixed itself.
     
  6. 2005/10/04
    vopycka

    vopycka Inactive

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    I have the exact same problem with the exact same PC

    admin note: remainder removed to avoid confusing which person's issue an answer applies to.
     
  7. 2005/10/04
    Newt

    Newt Inactive

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    Hi vopycka and welcome.

    It always works best if you start a topic of your own. Otherwise things get real confusing. I've removed most of your post above.
     
    Newt,
    #6

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