XP won't repair or reinstall

[Gary S. Botticello]

2nd post on this;

I have an out of state friend who has a Gateway which
came with Win98 SE. 6 months ago he upgraded to XP Home,
and up until two weeks ago everything was fine. His son
apparently downloaded a 'jpeg' file which he was using as
his desktop wallpaper. When my friend went to delete
this file, it wouldn't let him and the system 'froze'.
He shut down and now it won't re-boot anymore. He keeps
getting a message about missing files in the
windows/system32/config folder. I tried walking him
through the recovery console function, but every time he
selects either to repair the existing install or new
install he gets a black screen with a message stating
there is a hardware problem and windows will not continue
because of possible hardware damage. I have had him
remove all recently installed new hardware and return the
system to its original configuration with no luck. He is
shipping the box to me to see if I can recover it for
him. I seem to remember something in an article about
this problem which indicated there was a log file created
during the install process which stored previous install
attemp info. Any subsequent install attempts would look
at this file and not proceed any further. I think the
article said if one deleted this log file, a new install
would then be possible. Does anyone know the name of
this file, and where on the drive I should look for it.

Of course, he never made any backups, and is desperate to
recover some files on the drive if possible.

Any thoughts on this?

[Dan (Still going in circles)]

Here's a silly question for you. Have you run an "anti-virus" scan on
the system yet?

Dan (Still going in circles)

On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 12:20:19 -0700, "Gary S. Botticello"
> wrote:

>2nd post on this;
>
>I have an out of state friend who has a Gateway which
>came with Win98 SE. 6 months ago he upgraded to XP Home,
>and up until two weeks ago everything was fine. His son
>apparently downloaded a 'jpeg' file which he was using as
>his desktop wallpaper. When my friend went to delete
>this file, it wouldn't let him and the system 'froze'.
>He shut down and now it won't re-boot anymore. He keeps
>getting a message about missing files in the
>windows/system32/config folder. I tried walking him
>through the recovery console function, but every time he
>selects either to repair the existing install or new
>install he gets a black screen with a message stating
>there is a hardware problem and windows will not continue
>because of possible hardware damage. I have had him
>remove all recently installed new hardware and return the
>system to its original configuration with no luck. He is
>shipping the box to me to see if I can recover it for
>him. I seem to remember something in an article about
>this problem which indicated there was a log file created
>during the install process which stored previous install
>attemp info. Any subsequent install attempts would look
>at this file and not proceed any further. I think the
>article said if one deleted this log file, a new install
>would then be possible. Does anyone know the name of
>this file, and where on the drive I should look for it.
>
>Of course, he never made any backups, and is desperate to
>recover some files on the drive if possible.
>
>Any thoughts on this?
>

[Maureen Goldman]

>"Gary S. Botticello" > wrote:

>2nd post on this;
>
>I have an out of state friend who has a Gateway which
>came with Win98 SE. 6 months ago he upgraded to XP Home,
>and up until two weeks ago everything was fine. His son
>apparently downloaded a 'jpeg' file which he was using as
>his desktop wallpaper. When my friend went to delete
>this file, it wouldn't let him and the system 'froze'.
>He shut down and now it won't re-boot anymore. He keeps
>getting a message about missing files in the
>windows/system32/config folder.

Here's a post I saved:

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, "Kelly" > wrote:

To fix the "windows\system32\config\system file is missing or corrupt"
where Xp won't boot:

Go to Recovery Console and type:

cd system32\config
ren system system.old
ren system.alt systemalt.old
copy c:\windows\repair\system
copy c:\windows\repair\regback\system
exit

Recover from a Corrupted Registry Preventing Win XP from Starting
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307545

[Gary S. Botticello]

Yes he had, he was using McCaffee with current signature
files before it crashed.
>-----Original Message-----
>Here's a silly question for you. Have you run an "anti-
virus" scan on
>the system yet?
>
>Dan (Still going in circles)
>
>On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 12:20:19 -0700, "Gary S. Botticello"
> wrote:
>
>>2nd post on this;
>>
>>I have an out of state friend who has a Gateway which
>>came with Win98 SE. 6 months ago he upgraded to XP
Home,
>>and up until two weeks ago everything was fine. His
son
>>apparently downloaded a 'jpeg' file which he was using
as
>>his desktop wallpaper. When my friend went to delete
>>this file, it wouldn't let him and the system 'froze'.
>>He shut down and now it won't re-boot anymore. He
keeps
>>getting a message about missing files in the
>>windows/system32/config folder. I tried walking him
>>through the recovery console function, but every time
he
>>selects either to repair the existing install or new
>>install he gets a black screen with a message stating
>>there is a hardware problem and windows will not
continue
>>because of possible hardware damage. I have had him
>>remove all recently installed new hardware and return
the
>>system to its original configuration with no luck. He
is
>>shipping the box to me to see if I can recover it for
>>him. I seem to remember something in an article about
>>this problem which indicated there was a log file
created
>>during the install process which stored previous
install
>>attemp info. Any subsequent install attempts would
look
>>at this file and not proceed any further. I think the
>>article said if one deleted this log file, a new
install
>>would then be possible. Does anyone know the name of
>>this file, and where on the drive I should look for it.
>>
>>Of course, he never made any backups, and is desperate
to
>>recover some files on the drive if possible.
>>
>>Any thoughts on this?
>>
>
>.
>

[Dan (Still going in circles)]

Did you ever get this fixed and if so, what did you do?

Dan (Still going in circles)

On Tue, 02 Sep 2003 00:45:14 GMT, "Dan (Still going in circles)"
> wrote:

>Here's a silly question for you. Have you run an "anti-virus" scan on
>the system yet?
>
>Dan (Still going in circles)
>
>On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 12:20:19 -0700, "Gary S. Botticello"
> wrote:
>
>>2nd post on this;
>>
>>I have an out of state friend who has a Gateway which
>>came with Win98 SE. 6 months ago he upgraded to XP Home,
>>and up until two weeks ago everything was fine. His son
>>apparently downloaded a 'jpeg' file which he was using as
>>his desktop wallpaper. When my friend went to delete
>>this file, it wouldn't let him and the system 'froze'.
>>He shut down and now it won't re-boot anymore. He keeps
>>getting a message about missing files in the
>>windows/system32/config folder. I tried walking him
>>through the recovery console function, but every time he
>>selects either to repair the existing install or new
>>install he gets a black screen with a message stating
>>there is a hardware problem and windows will not continue
>>because of possible hardware damage. I have had him
>>remove all recently installed new hardware and return the
>>system to its original configuration with no luck. He is
>>shipping the box to me to see if I can recover it for
>>him. I seem to remember something in an article about
>>this problem which indicated there was a log file created
>>during the install process which stored previous install
>>attemp info. Any subsequent install attempts would look
>>at this file and not proceed any further. I think the
>>article said if one deleted this log file, a new install
>>would then be possible. Does anyone know the name of
>>this file, and where on the drive I should look for it.
>>
>>Of course, he never made any backups, and is desperate to
>>recover some files on the drive if possible.
>>
>>Any thoughts on this?
>>