WinXP error on bootup.

[de8212]

I think the hard drive may be toast but let me run this by you all and see if there is any hope.
Error on bootup saying Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \Windows\Sytem32\Config\System.

Any chance i can copy the system file from another machine and replace it?

I cannot remember if the drive is fat32 or ntfs but if it's ntfs how can I boot into a commnad prompt and copy the file over?

It also says that I can do the repair option by booting off the cd. I tried it the other day but it didn't work. I just can't remember exactly what error I go though. Isn't there two different types of "repair" modes or something?

Any other ideas?

 

[bsobel]

The file in question is your system regisrty hive, it is machine specific and can't be copied from another. However, if system restore is on you can pull a backup from there and most likely be ok. Google for registry and system restore for instructions and run chkdsk from the repair option first...

Good luck,
Bill

 

[de8212]

thanks bsobel.
Well the error said I could boot off the cd and repair the file from the cd so that's why I thought copying from another machine might work.
I'm still messing with it but it's not looking good.
Regardingthe system restore. I can't boot into windows so I don't know if it was on or not.

 

[pcgeek11]

Search the microsoft knowledge base they have a recovery procedure.

pcgeek

 

[de8212]

Originally posted by: pcgeek11
Search the microsoft knowledge base they have a recovery procedure.

pcgeek

I found a guide on google and tried it with not much luck. I am now at the point where it told me to try and do a chkdsk. It's been going for ~2 hours and only at 25%. I'm just gonna let it run all night and see if I get lucky.
Anyone else ever had this problem and were you able to salvage anything?

 

[pcgeek11]

Originally posted by: de8212

Originally posted by: pcgeek11
Search the microsoft knowledge base they have a recovery procedure.

pcgeek

I found a guide on google and tried it with not much luck. I am now at the point where it told me to try and do a chkdsk. It's been going for ~2 hours and only at 25%. I'm just gonna let it run all night and see if I get lucky.
Anyone else ever had this problem and were you able to salvage anything?

I did this for my sons computer and it worked, if you are using the procedure where you delete the present registry hives and reload all the original hives from where the OS was installed (from a command prompt ), then boot into Windows and do a restore point... etc

Unfortunatly it crapped out again in about a month due to a memory problem.

pcgeek

 

[Soapy Bones]

My system did this EXACT same thing tonight when I rebooted it as it was running slow.

Those who have suggested using the Microsoft Knowledge Base for the solution are correct, if you are DOS savy at all you can finish it and have it back and running in about 15-20 minutes. My problem is that when you get to the point of going into the restore point, there is only one restore point and that is the most recent one made jsut before the system crashed. I copied all of the files over as you are supposed to and it still wont work.


If you cannot get it through DOS there is always BartPE which will let you get into a windows like atmosphere and have access to a file explorer to move things around and try to salvage stuff.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with mine since there are no system restore points other than the most recent one (very strange I think) but I think that this solution will work for you.

The MS Knowledge Base # is Article ID 307545 and thsi has worked multiple times in the past for me.

Good luck and I'd be happy to try and help out if you need it.

 

[de8212]

Well, the chkdsk got about 50% last night and gave some error about non-recoverable damage.
I a at work now so I can't try the MS knowledge base 307545 idea. Do you still think it's worth it with the above info?
All I need is to be able to get a few files off of it. I'd love to save the whole thing but if I can get the files off of there I won't trust that drive for future use. It's only about 3.5 yrs old and my wife only uses the pc 2-3 times a week.
Any otehr suggestions in the mean time?

 

[Soapy Bones]

I am not sure that it is a hard drive problem or what. I had the problem happen about a year and a half ago. It gave random registry errors like the one you saw for about a month straight, almost weekly. Really a pain in the neck. Found out I had mixed some RAM that it did not like and as soon as I took it out it was mostly OK. Since then there have been 2 occasions where the computer has been running for a few days, I go to restart and it pops up with this error.

So in conclusion I'm not sure what in the world causes it, but if you want to get into the PC and that is your only hard drive in the system, the registry fix that is in the Knowledge Base will get you in, assuming you left system restore points on. As long as there is a restore point that is not the most recent, you will be able to get full access to everything and the system will basically be as if nothing happened. Of course getting all of your important data off and formatting is probably a good idea, but this will get you back to normal.

The other tool I mentioned is called BartsPE. While I'm not exactly sure how it does what it does, it basically gives you a GUI OS that allows you complete access to files on the hard drive, has like USB support and network support so you can copy and save anything you need without doing all of the above stuff. I'm sure a quick google search will get you there easily. The only negative is you must have a computer that works with a CD burner to burn a bootable disc that loads this program up.

 

[de8212]

I just tried the KB 307545 here. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

It just gives me an Access Denied when I type in md tmp.
I'm about out of ideas and ready to give up but wanted to see if anyone had any further ideas?

 

[pcgeek11]

error about non-recoverable damage

This usually means hard disk damage. You may need to just get a new drive.

pcgeek

 

[de8212]

Originally posted by: pcgeek11

error about non-recoverable damage

This usually means hard disk damage. You may need to just get a new drive.

pcgeek

That was my original fear. I guess she didn't have too much on this drive but I really wanted to get back in and look around before I trash it.

 

[sekser]

i got the same error on my laptop running win xp last night.

I booted off the Win XP CD. hit R for recovery console.

then typed

chkdsk /r

after it was done (about 1 hour) i was back up and running fine.

 

[de8212]

Originally posted by: sekser
i got the same error on my laptop running win xp last night.

I booted off the Win XP CD. hit R for recovery console.

then typed

chkdsk /r

after it was done (about 1 hour) i was back up and running fine.

I tried chkdsk and it got to 50% and said there was non-recoverable damage. What does the /r mean?

 

[pcgeek11]

The /r means repair. but if it says nonrecoverable...

 

[rasczak]

might i suggest something before you trash the drive?

buy a new drive and install your os,

once you have done that, throw a linux live cd installation into your cdrom drive and boot in to that.

then get an external enclosure for your old drive and plug it into to the computer and try to mount the drive.

i had the same issue and was able to save nearly 3000 photos before the drive died.


good luck
joe

 

[de8212]

jp
I plan on getting a drive this weekend and installing XP. Can you provide me with some more info on where to get an encluse (whatever else I need??) as well as what linux disc and where to get that? Any other detailed instructions would be appreciated.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: de8212

Originally posted by: pcgeek11
Search the microsoft knowledge base they have a recovery procedure.

pcgeek

I found a guide on google and tried it with not much luck. I am now at the point where it told me to try and do a chkdsk. It's been going for ~2 hours and only at 25%. I'm just gonna let it run all night and see if I get lucky.
Anyone else ever had this problem and were you able to salvage anything?

I used to take support calls at MS for this particular problem. Yes, I've seen and fixed about 100 variations and it's very possible to recover from this.

Based on the results of your chkdsk you are in a little worse shape than most. The problem as others have said is the system32\config\system file has become corrupt on your drive. This file is the entire HKLM\system portion of your registry.

When chkdsk reports it has found one or more unrecoverable errors it means it. The errors found cannot be corrected without recreating the ntfs file system on the drive. Rather than getting the config\system error fixed, your gameplan should be: 1) get booted. 2) Retrieve data 3) Reformat.

Normally you try to either repair the corrupted system hive or use a copy from a recent system restore point to get going. In this case since a Reformat is looming we just need any copy of the system hive to get booted.

Boot to recovery console (If you need help with this let us know). Backup the system, software, sam and security files located in system32\config. Then grab a copy of these same files from windows\repair and drop them in place. Reboot and you should come up. You'll find your programs don't work and there may be some other issues resulting from the old registry. Not a concern. Just get your data backed up then reformat and reload windows.

If you still don't boot after doing the above, perform parallel or overwriting install of Windows. Once booted to the new install, retrieve and backup your data then format.

Be sure your backups are in good shape going forward. The drive corruption could be the result of a nasty shutdown or it could be your actual hardware beginning to fail.

 

[de8212]

Thanks for all the info.

Originally posted by: Smilin
Boot to recovery console (If you need help with this let us know). Backup the system, software, sam and security files located in system32\config. Then grab a copy of these same files from windows\repair and drop them in place. Reboot and you should come up. You'll find your programs don't work and there may be some other issues resulting from the old registry. Not a concern. Just get your data backed up then reformat and reload windows.

I'm not at home right now but the recovery console is when I boot off the disc and choose repair, right? If so, i believe when I did this and tried to change directories or just get a list of directories I get an access denied error.

If you still don't boot after doing the above, perform parallel or overwriting install of Windows. Once booted to the new install, retrieve and backup your data then format.

I thought about this the other day but if I did an install over the original wouldn't it require me to format during the setup and overwrite the files I need?

Be sure your backups are in good shape going forward. The drive corruption could be the result of a nasty shutdown or it could be your actual hardware beginning to fail.

As stated earlier this is my wife's pc. Luckily I have been copying alot of stuff off her drive every now and then. So we have most of what she lost but there are a few things we would like to get back. This weekend we will hopefully get a new hard drive for her as well as an external HD so she can periodically backup her stuff.

 

[Smilin]

I'm not at home right now but the recovery console is when I boot off the disc and choose repair, right? If so, i believe when I did this and tried to change directories or just get a list of directories I get an access denied error.

Reasons for an access denied may include:
1. Trying to navigate outside of the Windows folder. Unless you change a security policy to allow it, you won't be able to navigate anywhere outside of the root or Windows. To change the policy you need to be able to boot What we are trying to do shouldn't require this since all folders involved are inside windows. If you were following a kb article that mentioned the system volume information folder steps there will require windows to be working.
2. Running a 'compatible' but not necessarily correct driver. If you are using IDE this won't apply. If you are using SATA or RAID grab a copy of the latest driver and provide it using the F6 key when setup is first starting off your CD.
3. Munged filesystem. This is the suck. I hope this isn't it. If it is we'll need to do this file swap via knoppix CD, WinPE or some other method to access the drive. Parallel install would work too.

I thought about this the other day but if I did an install over the original wouldn't it require me to format during the setup and overwrite the files I need?

Formatting during setup is an option (and one you should use after we get your data). For the parallel/overwriting install you can tell it to 'keep the existing filesystem intact' and just basically install windows to a different folder or partition or simply overwrite the existing install (windows folder gets overwritten, nothing else).

 

[de8212]

Originally posted by: Smilin
Formatting during setup is an option (and one you should use after we get your data). For the parallel/overwriting install you can tell it to 'keep the existing filesystem intact' and just basically install windows to a different folder or partition or simply overwrite the existing install (windows folder gets overwritten, nothing else).

Let me try this approach first. It's been a while since I have done a fresh instal of XP (I have a ghost image of my drive) so I couldn't remember if it forced you to format.
I'll give it a shot this weekend and just try to get the files off.
I'm still getting her a new drive. Better to be safe then sorry.

 

[de8212]

I just tried to install windows again but it will not let me install unless I Format. The only 2 choices are NTFS (quick) and just NTFS. No option to keep the current file system.

 

[Smilin]

So grab a copy of your registry files (system, sam, software, security) from windows\repair and drop them in system32\config

See if that lets you boot with the filesystem still in a damaged state.

If so, backup data and proceed with the format. If not, pop the drive out, put the new one in, install windows as desired then mount the old drive as a secondary to retrieve your data.