Windows XP won't start.

All of a sudden the Windows XP os installed on my Sony Vaio desktop won't start up. I have tried powering down and restarting the computer. I have tried booting into safe mode. I have tried using the last known good configuration. I can't get it to start! What happens is, I hit the power button on the tower and it fires up. Once it gets to the Windows XP splash screen, the progrees bar at the bottom goes for about 10 seconds then the computer just restarts itself. Everytime I try it, that's what happens. When I try to boot into safe mode, the same thing happens. I choose safe mode, then about 10 seconds later the computer just restarts itself. I even tried putting a Windows XP installation disk in the CD drive and booting from a CD. Basically, it just gave me the options of formatting my hard drive and installing windows again (no, because I don't want to lose all the info on my hard drive) or repairing the current windows installation which asks for an administrator password (if there is one, I have no idea what it is). I have not installed any new hardware or software recently. I'm not sure what is going on. I'd like to avoid reinstalling Windows on this hard drive if at all possible. Can anyone give me any advice?!? Thanks!!

 

More info...

Ok, after playing around with this, I have some more info....

I was able to disable the auto restart on system failure and found this error message:
STOP: coooo218 {Registry File Failure}
This registry cannot load the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\config\SOFTWARE
or it's log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent or not writable

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete
Contact your system administrator or Technical support
group for further assistance.

After some internet search (on another computer) I found the following Microsoft knowledge base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=307545

So, I followed the instructions in this article, but when I get to the step copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system I get a message that reads "The system cannot find the file specified ".

So, that's where I'm at. I need to either find where the c:\windows\repair\system really is on the hard drive or I need another fix for this.

FYI, my computer is a Sony Vaio VCG-RB43 with Windows XP installed on a 200gb SATA hard drive.

 

Hi TDO, have you tried sfc /scannow? Make sure you have your XP CD available as you may be asked for it.Neil.

 

Neil, it looks like a corrupt registry problem. SFC won't replace the registry.

TheDirtyOne, did you try the next step #6, making a batch file? You could burn it onto a CD-RW and run it from the Recovery Console.

If it still does not show up, you should do a search of the C: drive for the folder Repair.

You may possibly have damage to your HDD or the file system. Run CHKDSK /r
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058/en-us

Matt

 

Thanks Mattman. I'll try CHKDSK /r and see how it goes.

 

See my post here for guidance on how to use a Boot CD in order to recover the registry files from the System Restore folder.

 

mayby this can help ??
http://www.help2go.com/Tutorials/Windows/C:\windows\system32\config\system_missing_or_corrupt.html