UPDATE: Unable to boot still but can now access recovery console

[TeflonMan1]

Guys im in some serious trouble. I was trying to rip a DVD in Windows XP and was viewing the VSO files using PowerDVD and then suddenly I got a BSOD. I rebooted and it said that windows\system32\config\system was missing or corrupt. It told me that I could press R at the Setup screen and restore the file. I tried booting in safe mode and last known good configuration and it wouldnt boot. I went ahead and booted off the XP CD and it would never get past the blue loading windows screen so I cant even get to a recovery console. Do you guys have any ideas, I am willing to reinstall windows because I have all my files on a seperate harddrive, but fixing this would be preferred. I just need to somehow get it working again. Here are some system specs.

P4 1.6@2.3 Ghz
512 megs
primary HD is 18 gig SCSI with windows on it
2 secondary 60 gig IDE and 250 gig IDE harddrives on primary channel
Geforce 4 Ti4200
CD burner and DVD burner both on secondary IDE channels

 

[cleverhandle]

Originally posted by: TeflonMan1
I went ahead and booted off the XP CD and it would never get past the blue loading windows screen so I cant even get to a recovery console.

That's pretty much guaranteeing that it's a hardware problem. Given that you were ripping a DVD at the time, maybe disconnect the DVD and see if that helps. Perhaps it suffered some kind of catastrophic failure. Could be memory, too, or other stuff. But definitely sounds like hardware.

 

[Kadarin]

If it's a hardware issue, booting off a Knoppix linux Live CD will likely give you a much clearer idea of where it's failing. (i.e. If it fails, you'll actually have a high probability of getting a fairly descriptive error message.)

 

[TeflonMan1]

The overclocking must have been the reason I couldn't logon to to the recovery console. I set the BIOS to fail safe and it logged right on to the recovery console.

I am trying to fix the problem using the microsoft support database and I found 2 possible solutions. One was accessing the system recovery through the recovery console found here, system recovery . For some reason whenever I type that in it tells me that its an invalid command, which perplexes me. I have used that before and gotten to the system recovery. I would think I would be logged on as an admin by default since I only have one OS. When I boot up the recovery console it only ask me what OS I want to boot up and nowhere does it ask me an admin password or an admin login.
Also I found this article that talks about how to replace that corrupt file. When I follow that exactly, with the exception my Windows is on the D drive for some reason now, it always tells that that it was an invalid switch /. What the heck am I doing wrong is beyond me.