XP Can't Repair itself??

My girlfriend has a Dell Inspiron 2200 notebook. Over the last year or so it has been getting slower and slower and slower.....taking upto 5 minuets to get a web browser open.

Anyway, the other night she got this error:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jeff810095/IMG_1911.JPG

Of course Dell did not include a XP disk or repair disk.....idiotic (this is the last Dell she buys).

But I did find a XP CD to use to try and "repair" this. But I get to this screen....
http://home.earthlink.net/~jeff810095/IMG_1912.JPG

.......and nothing happens! What I am supposed to fix Windows myself? Why can't it REPAIR the Windows installation on the notebook? I thought that was why I was pressing "R "??

Anyone have any suggestions as to what to do next?

Thanks,
Jeff (Mac user....walk me thru step by step if you can)

 

Jeff,

Before using the recovery console have you first tried to boot into Safe Mode? Or Even the Safe Mode with Command Prompt?

To do that: press f8 after the POST diagnostics screen when the computer is booting.

If you can get to a command line in Safe mode you could restore to a previous save...which I think is better than doing the recovery.

If you can boot to Safe Mode, at your command prompt type the following:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

 

Ok, just tried it....

If I select Safe Mode with Command Prompt i end up with the same "file is missing or corrupt" error for that \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

...it then tells me again I can attempt to repair by starting up Windows Setup "using original Setup CD-ROM "....

Can I do a full Windows re-install? I got a message somewhere saying that may not be a good idea and lead to problems....

 

I also just tried to startup in regular "Safe Mode "....got the same error message

 

I would reinstall as only a last resort. At the prompt from your picture you should have several options. To get a list type, "Help ".

Here is a link to what each command in the Recovery Console can do:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_rec.htm

I'm leaning toward FXMBR It worked for me with an identical error in the past.
I hope that helps.

If it works and you can boot. Backup anything that you can and do a clean reinstall of Windows.

 

Thanks Pete.....just tried that. But after the license agreement i select the system on the hard drive and press "r" like the instructions say and nothing happens....restarting AGAIN from the CD to try again....

Could MicroSoft have made this anymore confusing?

 

There is no place to select REPAIR >>AFTER<< the license agreement. And if I select R for REPAIR (that is the exact word they use on the bottom of the screen) before the license agreement I get that other "Recovery" screen that just gives me the C: prompt!!!

eeeeeeeeeeeeee! I do appreciate the help......but the instructions on that web page do no not work.

Oh, and if I do proceed after the License agreement I get that warning about installing another OS on the same partition....it's either do a new full install or not. No option to "repair" is there. Despite what the web page above says.

 

Thanks Pete. The "Guided Help" file is an exe file? Am I supposed to run that on the machine that's down? hummm....wonder if I can download that on my old PowerBook here and put it on a flash drive and run it from there?

And if I can't get "Guided Help" to run I am supposed to type all that stuff in?? eeeeee

Is there any 3rd party software that can do what needs to be done here? ....there is a half page of typing here that I must type EXACTLY.....it really amazes me there is not a repair utility on the XP CD-ROM!

==========
PS I see this ad above
http://windowshelp.net/windows-xp-help/?s=g
.....would this software work? Would you guys recommend it? It can't be free but I don't see a price on it....??

 

The guided help is likely to give the same instructions as that on the website. Your best bet would be to print out that webpage.

Read the instructions carefully... Particulary

If you can use another computer to create a DOS txt file then copy and paste will do the job and save you some typing.

With a system that fails to boot to windows this software is no good.

Try Evan's instructions first though, it won't do any harm.

If you do get the system booted I'd check the hard drive for errors, a failing hard drive is one cause (not the only one) for this error.

 

Thanks Evan, I tried F8 and "Last Known Good Configuration ".... I still get the error above. Sooo...I will have to work on this more tomorrow. Thanks everyone for the help...

 

Evan,

I'd advise waiting until the MS procedures have been done before attempting this, if the HD is corrupted then running chkdsk in the HD's current state could make the situation worse.

 

Hi Guys, I have been away an unable to work on this. Ok, are you guys saying if the hard drive has not had a hard ware failure (and I don't believe it has), then if I run "chkdsk /r" that has a good chance of fixing this? The hard drive seems ok (no odd sounds or excessing head access, etc)...

 

Hi Jeff, as I been reading you are stuck between a rock & a hard place. Well I have possible good news for free & others may want to chime in on this. There is a movement out on internet called bartpe seen here http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ , if you have another windows machine & follow the how too make the cd you will have a liscense for that machine & can use that boot cd to boot a stalled machine. I have used it in emergencies as yours but also have external hd & dvd to get all info off drive before attempting repair. Due to not having a disk there is a i386 folder which has all the install files to do a complete install & keeping all the licenses in order as well. I also remember there is a install file that starts the setup but cant remember at this time, I get all the files to external drive so if the hd is bad in future you have a legal copy to reinstall.
This is my first post but I feel this may be your best bet, backup, backup, backup, cheers good luck...

http://www.easydesksoftware.com/I386.htm check this out after you have a working bootable cd

 

Ok Guys....I ran chkdsk /r and it took about an hour to run then said "CHKDSK found and fixed one or more errors on the volume. ". But it still wont boot Windows from the hard drive. I am re-running chkdsk again, buy I doubt it will help.

Thanks Carmoe for the suggestion. But I do have a "Windows XP Professional" CD here (she had Windows XP Home on here I think). Can I use the Windows XP Professional" CD and her license to re-install Windows XP Home on her Dell notebook?

BTW I do keep my Mac desktop backed up t to DVDR disks every couple days using Retrospect. And when I upgrade to 10.5 I'll use Time Machine also....but I think we do need to get her using something like Carbonite.com...

Thanks,
Jeff