XP Start up problem

billiebob16 · External Since: Nov 13, 2005 Posts: 1

Just got finished with upgrading the wifes computer from 98se to XP, Norton
antivirus didn't upgrade well, so I had to hand delete it from the system and
the register.

When I rebooted I got the message: Windows could not restart because the
following file is missing or corrupt:

c:\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 up.

When I try booting with the upgrade disk, I get a screen that states to boot
from the CD to press any key. I do this, but nothing happens and this
message pops up again. I even went in and set up the Cd to be the only boot
device and still got this message.

I sure hope someone can help me with this, since my wife has well over 3000
sewing designs on this hard drive. I have a full ghost back-up of the old
98SE on another hard drive and when I tried going back to it I get a message
that it can't find krnl386.exe, but it's working OK in the safe mode. This
is the first time one of these back ups has failed to boot.

If anyone can help me get one ot the other of these 2 systems back up I will
be very appreciative.
--
billiebob

Carey Frisch MVP2 · External Since: Aug 26, 2004 Posts: 11625

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"billiebob16" wrote:

| Just got finished with upgrading the wifes computer from 98se to XP, Norton
| antivirus didn't upgrade well, so I had to hand delete it from the system and
| the register.
|
| When I rebooted I got the message: Windows could not restart because the
| following file is missing or corrupt:
|
| c:\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 up.
|
| When I try booting with the upgrade disk, I get a screen that states to boot
| from the CD to press any key. I do this, but nothing happens and this
| message pops up again. I even went in and set up the Cd to be the only boot
| device and still got this message.
|
| I sure hope someone can help me with this, since my wife has well over 3000
| sewing designs on this hard drive. I have a full ghost back-up of the old
| 98SE on another hard drive and when I tried going back to it I get a message
| that it can't find krnl386.exe, but it's working OK in the safe mode. This
| is the first time one of these back ups has failed to boot.
|
| If anyone can help me get one ot the other of these 2 systems back up I will
| be very appreciative.
| --
| billiebob

CompuPlus Computer · External Since: Oct 12, 2004 Posts: 3

If your hard drive is still formatted with FAT32 then boot to a windows 98
startup disk. From the command prompt type "REN
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM.OLD" w/o
the quotes.
Then type "COPY C:\WINDOWS\REPAIR\SYSTEM C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM"
w/o the quotes. There is a backup copy of all your CONFIG files. They are
the original install files, they are located in the REPAIR folder and they
will return you system to the original Windows XP installation state (if done
down the road, you will loose any programs, settings or changes made since
the time of install). Let me know if this works. Of course if you have
changed your file system to NTFS, then you will need to boot to your XP
installation CD. If this is not happening, Microsoft has a download
available which creates an XP bootdisk using 6 floppy disks.

Peace on Earth
Jeditech

"billiebob16" wrote:

> Just got finished with upgrading the wifes computer from 98se to XP, Norton
> antivirus didn't upgrade well, so I had to hand delete it from the system and
> the register.
>
> When I rebooted I got the message: Windows could not restart because the
> following file is missing or corrupt:
>
> c:\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 up.
>
> When I try booting with the upgrade disk, I get a screen that states to boot
> from the CD to press any key. I do this, but nothing happens and this
> message pops up again. I even went in and set up the Cd to be the only boot
> device and still got this message.
>
> I sure hope someone can help me with this, since my wife has well over 3000
> sewing designs on this hard drive. I have a full ghost back-up of the old
> 98SE on another hard drive and when I tried going back to it I get a message
> that it can't find krnl386.exe, but it's working OK in the safe mode. This
> is the first time one of these back ups has failed to boot.
>
> If anyone can help me get one ot the other of these 2 systems back up I will
> be very appreciative.
> --
> billiebob