Win XP cannot boot to desktop error

[mauiblue]

Aloha to all. A few months ago one of the boot drives (RAID 0) in my rig (see sig line) gave up the ghost. I figure it was basically a easy fix which I actually replaced both RAID 0 hard drives (drives were about 5 years old). I reinstalled Win XP, drivers, and most of the orginally software. Before replacing the drives, my system worked well for quite a while without any issues, crashes, etc.

Since replacing the drives, the last few months my rig has experienced pretty much the same issue in which Windows would not boot to the desktop. I would have this either of these two errors:

Windows Could Not Start Because The Following File Is Missing or Corrupt SYSTEM32/DRIVERS/pci.SYS

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. Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

I've installed Win XP several times over the past few months as that was the only solution I could find that would allow me to resolve the issue only to come back to those two errors described above. I did run Memtest86 and the all went well. I also changed the SATA cables to the boot drives. There was no changes to the hardware in my system other than the replacement drives. I've reinstalled Win XP for the umpteenth time but not reinstalled the drivers at the moment. I figure before I go through the frustration again of reinstalling all the drivers and software and have my system fail to boot I ask the forum members what else I should investigate before continuing. Mahalo in advance.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Assuming this is the system listed in your sig i'd say you may have a bad sata controler on the motherboard. Cause common causes of this sort of problem are either a currupted HDD or bad RAM. I think its about time to retire that old P4. But if your still trying to run a raid that may be the problem. you may have to stick with a regular single drive configuration to maintain a stable install.

 

[mauiblue]

Thanks for your reply. I would want to run this old dog a bit longer as I don't have enough green stamps to retire this rig and build a new one. The Toshiba laptop I had listed in my sig died and I just replaced it with a new Dell a few weeks ago. That money for the new Dell was going to my new rig but oh well.

I'll go ahead and run a single drive config and hope for the best until I can raise the fund for a new system. Thanks again.

 

[Old Hippie]

I don't have enough green stamps

Watch it, you're showing your age. :laugh: :beer:

 

[Lemon law]

Had a similar problem to yours and ended up replacing the mobo. But meanwhile, the following link might save your butt, but may not work for a Sata drive.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299526

 

[mauiblue]

I wish I could find the same mobo that was NIB and dirt cheap as I that would be the only way I would choose to replace the mobo. I just have to save some coin and upgrade.