Missing or Corrupt SYSTEM file [Archive]

View Full Version : Missing or Corrupt SYSTEM file

Mike Gibson

January 5th 04, 10:55 PM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
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 using the original Setup CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

Above is the message that I got after I booted my computer
named BOB this morning. It worked normally yesterday.
BOB is based on an AMD Athlon 800 chip on a ASUS
motherboard, and has worked for several years now. I now
use BOB as a fileserver, on a simple peer to peer network
with 3 or 4 other XP Pro machines. BOB usually doesn't
have a CD ROM drive physically installed, since I use all
of the IDE channels (ATA100 actually) for the four hard
drives that are installed. When I install the OS, I
remove the drives from the secondary IDE bus, and connect
the CD ROM drive, removing it after the OS install is
complete, and reactivating the E:\ and F:\ drives after
rebooting. All drives are Maxtors (3 - 120GB drives and
1 - 40GB, all ATA 133, connceted with 80 pin cables to the
motherboard. Slave/Master settings are correctly set on
the drives.

In September, I wanted to upgrade this machine to all
modern OS and hard drives, so:
I bought BOB's copy of XP Pro at CBW, on or around Sept
15, 2003, along with a 40 GB Maxtor HD to use as the new
C:\ boot drive. I installed XP Pro on BOB, successfully
it seemed, and after activating Windows XP, turning it off
and on several times, it failed with the message above.
This was a day or two after I seemed to have it working
well.

I reinstalled the Windows XP OS, got it all working again,
and Activated it again. It has worked perfectly since
then (Sept. 18 approx.) Jump forward approx. 2.5 months
to today -

Today I turn on the computer, and got the message at the
top of this note. I reinstalled Windows XP and seemed to
recover ok, with just about 1.5 hours of downtime/repair.
I disconnected the CD ROM drive from the machine, and re-
setup my E: and F: drives, successfully. All data intact,
apparently. I powered down and next time I powered up I
got the message above again. I have to find out what's
wrong, or how to keep this from happening.

Some notes that may be pertinent: BOB the computer has
never been connected to the Internet. I haven't installed
the Windows XP patches and upgrades on this machine, like
I have on all my other Windows XP machines. (Still It
worked for over two months, seemingly perfectly, without
the upgrades/patches). BOB is connected to a network to
other computer which are connected to the Internet
frequently.

Suggestions please? I bought this OS as OEM, legally, as
I also bought a major computer part (the harddrive) at the
same time.

Thanks in advance,
Mike Gibson

dev

January 5th 04, 10:56 PM

Mike Gibson said:

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
> 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 using the original Setup CD-ROM.
> Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
>
> Above is the message that I got after I booted my computer
> named BOB this morning. It worked normally yesterday.
> BOB is based on an AMD Athlon 800 chip on a ASUS
> motherboard, and has worked for several years now. I now
> use BOB as a fileserver, on a simple peer to peer network
> with 3 or 4 other XP Pro machines. BOB usually doesn't
> have a CD ROM drive physically installed, since I use all
> of the IDE channels (ATA100 actually) for the four hard
> drives that are installed. When I install the OS, I
> remove the drives from the secondary IDE bus, and connect
> the CD ROM drive, removing it after the OS install is
> complete, and reactivating the E:\ and F:\ drives after
> rebooting. All drives are Maxtors (3 - 120GB drives and
> 1 - 40GB, all ATA 133, connceted with 80 pin cables to the
> motherboard. Slave/Master settings are correctly set on
> the drives.
>
> In September, I wanted to upgrade this machine to all
> modern OS and hard drives, so:
> I bought BOB's copy of XP Pro at CBW, on or around Sept
> 15, 2003, along with a 40 GB Maxtor HD to use as the new
> C:\ boot drive. I installed XP Pro on BOB, successfully
> it seemed, and after activating Windows XP, turning it off
> and on several times, it failed with the message above.
> This was a day or two after I seemed to have it working
> well.
>
> I reinstalled the Windows XP OS, got it all working again,
> and Activated it again. It has worked perfectly since
> then (Sept. 18 approx.) Jump forward approx. 2.5 months
> to today -
>
> Today I turn on the computer, and got the message at the
> top of this note. I reinstalled Windows XP and seemed to
> recover ok, with just about 1.5 hours of downtime/repair.
> I disconnected the CD ROM drive from the machine, and re-
> setup my E: and F: drives, successfully. All data intact,
> apparently. I powered down and next time I powered up I
> got the message above again. I have to find out what's
> wrong, or how to keep this from happening.
>
> Some notes that may be pertinent: BOB the computer has
> never been connected to the Internet. I haven't installed
> the Windows XP patches and upgrades on this machine, like
> I have on all my other Windows XP machines. (Still It
> worked for over two months, seemingly perfectly, without
> the upgrades/patches). BOB is connected to a network to
> other computer which are connected to the Internet
> frequently.
>
> Suggestions please? I bought this OS as OEM, legally, as
> I also bought a major computer part (the harddrive) at the
> same time.

Try a boot into Safe Mode, by hitting F8 just before the "Starting
Windows" screen would appear (takes a bit of practice).
Choose LAST GOOD.

If that does nothing, use a working PC to read this first...
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q823614
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_sys32.htm

Related info is here...
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q307545
describes a three-step process to extract a copy of the registry
from the System Restore SVI folder.

Reinstall/repair tutorials (if needed) are here...
http://WWW.WEBTREE.CA/windowsxp/
http://michaelstevenstech.com

After your system is restored, the ERUNT utility available here may
make it easier to fix the problem if it recurs...
http://HOME.T-ONLINE.DE/home/lars.hederer/erunt

If the problem persists, try swapping current RAM (even if it checks
good) for a single, high-quality 512Mb chip. XP reportedly is sensitive
to memory timing.

--
For most XP answers and tweaks... http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm
http://dougknox.com http://aumha.org http://support.microsoft.com

Bruce Chambers

January 5th 04, 10:58 PM

Greetings --

I can verify from personal experience that this method works:

How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry that Prevents Windows XP from
Starting
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545

To investigate the root cause(s) of the problem:

How to Troubleshoot Registry Corruption Issues
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822705

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

"Mike Gibson" > wrote in message
...
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
> 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 using the original Setup CD-ROM.
> Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
>
> Above is the message that I got after I booted my computer
> named BOB this morning. It worked normally yesterday.
> BOB is based on an AMD Athlon 800 chip on a ASUS
> motherboard, and has worked for several years now. I now
> use BOB as a fileserver, on a simple peer to peer network
> with 3 or 4 other XP Pro machines. BOB usually doesn't
> have a CD ROM drive physically installed, since I use all
> of the IDE channels (ATA100 actually) for the four hard
> drives that are installed. When I install the OS, I
> remove the drives from the secondary IDE bus, and connect
> the CD ROM drive, removing it after the OS install is
> complete, and reactivating the E:\ and F:\ drives after
> rebooting. All drives are Maxtors (3 - 120GB drives and
> 1 - 40GB, all ATA 133, connceted with 80 pin cables to the
> motherboard. Slave/Master settings are correctly set on
> the drives.
>
> In September, I wanted to upgrade this machine to all
> modern OS and hard drives, so:
> I bought BOB's copy of XP Pro at CBW, on or around Sept
> 15, 2003, along with a 40 GB Maxtor HD to use as the new
> C:\ boot drive. I installed XP Pro on BOB, successfully
> it seemed, and after activating Windows XP, turning it off
> and on several times, it failed with the message above.
> This was a day or two after I seemed to have it working
> well.
>
> I reinstalled the Windows XP OS, got it all working again,
> and Activated it again. It has worked perfectly since
> then (Sept. 18 approx.) Jump forward approx. 2.5 months
> to today -
>
> Today I turn on the computer, and got the message at the
> top of this note. I reinstalled Windows XP and seemed to
> recover ok, with just about 1.5 hours of downtime/repair.
> I disconnected the CD ROM drive from the machine, and re-
> setup my E: and F: drives, successfully. All data intact,
> apparently. I powered down and next time I powered up I
> got the message above again. I have to find out what's
> wrong, or how to keep this from happening.
>
> Some notes that may be pertinent: BOB the computer has
> never been connected to the Internet. I haven't installed
> the Windows XP patches and upgrades on this machine, like
> I have on all my other Windows XP machines. (Still It
> worked for over two months, seemingly perfectly, without
> the upgrades/patches). BOB is connected to a network to
> other computer which are connected to the Internet
> frequently.
>
> Suggestions please? I bought this OS as OEM, legally, as
> I also bought a major computer part (the harddrive) at the
> same time.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Mike Gibson
>