sys32\config\system file....

Question

I have a 2001 Dimension8200 with Windows XP Home Edition preinstalled for me, and for the past week, the processing speed kept slowing. Today one of the members of my family was using said Dimenson and without warning, it froze. We restarted the computer just fine, and then it froze again. Now when I try to reboot it, it shows the initial Dell startup screen with the 'F2 for setup' and 'F12 for booting options' choices. Directly after that, however, it shows a black screen with the following:   Windows could not start because the following file is missong or corrupt: \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.   I tried using the Windows XP Reinstallation Disc that was shipped with my computer upon purchase. Alas, when I tried to use it, I had to manually start it using the 'F12 booting options' on the initial startup screen, and then the disc didn't work as it was described to in the Dimension8200 Owners Manual. Instead of getting a 'Wecome to Microsoft' screen with a 'green 'continue' icon' at the bottom of the screen, I recieve an all black screen with white text similar to the error screen I described earlier, except this one states:   Microsoft Windows XP (TM) Recovery Console. The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality. Type EXIT to quite the Recovery Console and restart the computer C:\>   If I type 'Help', this is what it gives me:   For more information on a specific command, type command-name /? or HELP command-name.   ATTRIB BATCH BOOTCFG CD CHDIR CHKDSK CLS COPY DEL DELETE DIR DISABLE DISKPART ENABLE EXIT EXPAND FIXBOOT FIXMBR FORMAT HELP LISTSVC LOGON MAP MD MKDIR MORE NET RD REN RENAME RMDIR SYSTEMROOT TYPE   Does anyone know how to fix this problem without having to replace the entire CPU?

Denny Denham · Answer

TheShadeDancer, You made a good start to get to the Recovery Console, which is where you need to be. Once there follow the steps given here and/or here.

TheShadeDancer · Answer

Alright. I tried both methods, and it still isn't working.

With the method from microsoft, I couldn't even start the first step because it would tell me "Access denied" when I typed in the first line. With the second one, it told me either "An error occurred during directory enumeration." or "The path or file specified is not valid.".

Do you know if it would solve the problem if I simply reinstalled Windows XP?

Denny Denham · Answer

TheShadeDancer,

Yes, but you will lose any perishable data on the system when you do so. The steps to recover from a corrupted registry would prevent that loss (but they do not always work, unfortunately).

TheShadeDancer · Answer

Denny, I *think* I found the root of the 'access denied' problem. Thank you for your help!

Windows General

Was this post helpful?