Date: 09/23/07 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: google

Well, I think I need to take the computer away from my boyfriend and his brother... They broke it again.

System: Dell XPS Gen5, approx 2 years old
OS: Windows XP Home Ed

So his younger brother shut down the computer the wrong way because he was to lazy to wait for it to shut down the right way. So I turned it back on (later of course) & this wonderful message greeted me:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt

C:\windows\system32\config\system

You can attempt to repair this file by starting windows setup using the original setup CD-Rom. Select "r" at the first screen to start repair.

So of course I hop on my laptop & Google the hell out of the problem, but nothing I find is working. I really don't want to reformat AGAIN. There's schoolwork & other important files. We could save them last time, but I can't even get into Windows desktop.

I can get into the Recovery Console on the CD, but what to do after that is beyond me. I don't get prompted for select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console or a password.

Macrosoft (I know I spelled it wrong) says to type "md tmp". I get "Access is Denied."
Somewhere else said to type "chkdsk"/"chkdsk /p". I get "The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems."
On another page it said to get into the system restore, but I can't...
Same page said I should make the bad hardrive into a slave on another computer, don't have one I can do that with. *pets her laptop* I wouldn't want that thing anywhere near mine anyway.
One said to skip the Recovery Console, & go into the install & use the repair option there, but there was none...

I can follow directions pretty well, any help would be great.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1109386.html