bobv2321,

 

I believe that the complete error message has a bit more info than what you were able to post such as

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

or

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE

 

Check these MSKB articles for suggestions on correcting the cause of this error.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

 

If this does not fix the problem, please post the entire error message as it appears on your screen.

 

Steve