Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
6 Posts
0
2173
June 2nd, 2007 14:00
Windows XP not loading - System 32 error message
Hi - I have a Dell Dimension E520, only a few months old, and on my return from holiday find that Windows won't load. The monitor flashes on when I turn on the computer as normal, but then nothing. After a few minutes I get this: "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original set-up CD-Rom. Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair".
I have tried putting in the Reinstallation CD (is this right or should it be the Resource CD?) but nothing then happens!
Any help gratefully received!
No Events found!
ejn63
9 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
0
June 2nd, 2007 15:00
Mount the drive a secondary in a working system, or into a 3.5" drive case and attach to a working system by USB, and back up your data.
DO NOT PROCEED WITHOUT A BACKUP - DOING SO COULD BE FATAL TO YOUR DATA.
Return the drive to the system. Boot, press F12 and run the extended diagnostics on the drive. If the drive passes, skip the next step.
If the drive fails and you're under warranty, call Dell, report the error and they'll ship you a new drive.
If the drive fails and you're out of warranty, bin it and replace it - you need a SATA drive.
If the drive passes, you can continue to try a repair (which fails more often than it succeeds) or bite the bullet and reinstall everything from scratch.
Recovery usually fails to restore the registry; in about 70-80% of all cases, it's a hardware fault that causes the problem.