WinXP will NOT boot!

HacksawEddie

hi
i turned on the pc with winxp pro this morning and it wouldnt go past the dos menus..it stoped and said:
could not start windows couase the following file is missing or corrupt:
"\windows\system32\config\system"

and to boot the xp disk and choose repair to fix this problem
..i did so, but when i press repair, it just leads me to a dos menu and doesnt go any further.

i had this prob before xmas and it p!ssed me off so i formatted and reinstalled windows, but i dont know why its happening again.

the only this both instances have in common is i was updating the osngs on my ipod around the time, but that makes no sense.
can any1 help?

cheers

Shane™

First thing you should do is enter HELP, this gives you a list of cammands, there is one to replace the file from the CD, sorry I can't remember the command, I deleted my boot.ini file a while back and thats how I fixed it.

If you feel confident, look yourself, or even better if somebody knows that name of the command they could pop it up.

stagolee

the command your thinking of is "sfc.exe" stands for system file checker
run it as "sfc.exe /?" first of all to get a list of switches you can use with it

HacksawEddie

i tried that, but it wont accept sfc.exe or sfc or sfc.exe /? as a command

stagolee

try booting into safe mode with command prompt and then run sfc

Shane™

stagolee wrote:

try booting into safe mode with command prompt and then run sfc

I think he's in the command console (correct me if I'm wrong) and can't get into any type of windows

Found this and this. Both of which tell you to try help. Can't remember which command I used, but if you type HELP "Command name" you get help on that command, and other functions of it.

BOOTCFG that's what I used found that here

But that was because my boot.ini file was gone, might work for you

HacksawEddie

thanks, will try them when i get home later