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March 15th, 2009 22:00

Corrupt config file, do I have the correct disk?

My laptop Inspiration 6400  is giving me the 'missing or corrupt sys32\config\sys error message'. (This happened after I rebooted after grissoft downloaded updates and told me to reboot) From reading other posts for this problem, Im not sure I have the correct disk? The disks I have came with the laptop, from Dell, one is purple and its called Operating system -reinstallation cd Microsoft win XP home edition SP2 and another is Drivers and Installers. Now my computer screen says to put in the original set up CD-ROM. I tried each of the cds I have,  and I can hear them run but I never got to a screen where I can select r.

I can push F8 and get to the troubleshooting screen, Ive selected safe mode, last known good config, reboot, all lead me back to the corrupt\sys32 message (and I dont know what some of these other things are so I dont want to select them and get stuck). So Im thinking I must not have the right CD to fix my laptop and get to the repair screen?

 

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March 16th, 2009 07:00

amyallen.

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.

Put the WinXP disk in the drive and boot your computer. Once it boots up you should be able to choose the Repair option.

7 Posts

March 16th, 2009 08:00

When I do that it  brings me back to the same screen, "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32|CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repait this file by sarting Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM. Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.  "

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4.6K Posts

March 16th, 2009 09:00

It sounds like the boot order is wrong?

You need to go into the BIOS (F2 during startup), and change it to boot/check for CD/DVD, then the hard drive, then anything else (i.e. floppy drive) :emotion-55:

7 Posts

March 16th, 2009 09:00

yes! I was able to go in and change the order. Now its booting from the disk and loading a bunch of files and now brought me to the repair window. yippeeee! Hope this fixes it. thank you, thank you, thank you!

7 Posts

March 16th, 2009 10:00

ok, what do I do now?  I selected 'r' then it wanted me to selec c:\windows or f:\windows, I selected the c:\windows. If I type help it shows all the commands I can select, but I dont know what command I should select to fix my computer.

133 Posts

March 16th, 2009 10:00

You can find complete instructions here, including instructions how to recover from this registry corruption if CHKDSK /R does not work.

Fix 1.C:\Windows

Hope this helps

7 Posts

March 16th, 2009 11:00

thank you!

I am able to get this to work CHKDSK /r..

7 Posts

March 17th, 2009 10:00

darn. It looks like Im going to have to reinstall XP as my computer is not repaired. I ran the CHKDSK /r on both my drives and now it brings me back to the blue windows freeze screen. sigh. Fortunatly I was able to back up my photos last week, I dont think I had any important docs on the laptop.

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4.6K Posts

March 17th, 2009 10:00

I'd make sure to keep making regular backups from now on as well, because a 'repair' install should've worked?

Do a 'clean' install by all means.  If you subsequently continue to have the same problem, it might suggest one of your hard drives is on the way out?


Do you have them set up in a RAID array, or are they two separate disks (primary/slave)?

It's obviously the disk on which you've installed the OS which is causing the problems, so keep an eye on it.

Hard drives which are failing usually show different symptoms (grinding noises etc), but still.

7 Posts

March 17th, 2009 11:00

I recently was infected with the Vundo trojan and thought I had all that resolved using a malware removal program. Guess not.

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