Repair problem on Netbook with SATA HDD

My Netbook (Toshiba NB100) with Windows XP Home started up this morning
with an error:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\Windows\system32\config\system

Boot from install CD and select R to repair"



My netbook has a SATA HDD so when I boot from the XP CD I have to supply
the SATA driver from an external floppy.

I did this and then got THIS error!

File iaStor.sys caused an unexpected error (43538) at the line 2113 in
d:\xpsprtm\base\boot\setup\oemdisk.c

How do I now proceed?

Gordonbp wrote:
My Netbook (Toshiba NB100) with Windows XP Home started up this morning
with an error:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\Windows\system32\config\system

Boot from install CD and select R to repair"



My netbook has a SATA HDD so when I boot from the XP CD I have to supply
the SATA driver from an external floppy.

I did this and then got THIS error!

File iaStor.sys caused an unexpected error (43538) at the line 2113 in
d:\xpsprtm\base\boot\setup\oemdisk.c

How do I now proceed?

So you're using a WinXP Gold (no Service Pack) installer CD ?

That's how I interpret "xpsprtm", as a Gold installer CD.

Just a guess, at the vintage of installer CD.

*******

You can slipstream in a Service Pack, using Nlite.
You download a Service Pack, follow the instructions, take the
output iso9660 file, and burn a new installer CD.

http://www.nliteos.com/guide/part1.html

You can even integrate a driver (so no F6 needed), in the same tool.
As long as the driver is one of those folders with a txtsetup.oem
inside it, an INF file and so on, I think it's supposed to work.

So there are ways, to "make" yourself a more modern CD for installation.

It's probably not time for it yet though.

I'm thinking, Gold may have a problem with storage. And a service pack
may help.

Another thing to note - if you installed a more modern version
of Internet Explorer, you're supposed to remove it first, before
doing the Repair Install (that's some Microsoft humor for you).
I think, if you can't do that, then reinstalling the broken version
of Internet Explorer, may bring things back to normal. So that's
another tiny issue, and why you may not want to do a Repair Install
as your first response.

*******

You don't need to reinstall, by the way. There is a recovery
path, if you normally have System Restore running. System Restore
collects copies of the registry files (at least five files), each
time a Restore Point is captured. They're stored in System Volume Information,
and can take up a lot of room. Some people, turn off System Restore,
in an effort to save space, and then, there are no "good" copies of the
registry around.

The recovery process is here. Basically, you take an "empty" registry
set, and install it first. That is to make the OS bootable. Then,
once the OS can boot, you run System Restore, and restore to the last
good restore point. That removes the "empty" registry files and
puts in a "good" set. The difference is, a "good" set, has all
of your application preferences, for every application installed.
The "empty" set, has virtually nothing in it, but may be sufficient
to get the computer to boot again. So recovery is a two step process,
but relies on working Restore Points.

"How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

This is a subset of all the files in there.
Just to give you some idea, how the registry is stored.
The "empty" set of registries, should be smaller.
This list was captured a while ago (sitting in a directory listing I made).

Directory of C:\WINDOWS\system32\config

03/03/2012 03:04 AM 286,720 DEFAULT
03/03/2012 03:04 AM 24,576 SAM
03/03/2012 03:04 AM 45,056 SECURITY
03/03/2012 03:04 AM 19,398,656 SOFTWARE
03/03/2012 01:34 PM 12,058,624 SYSTEM

If all you had, was the "empty" set of registries, and no
Restore Points at all, then a Repair Install might be a solution.
Or, looking in that backup image you keep, for a "good" set of files.

Paul

In ,
Paul typed:
Gordonbp wrote:
My Netbook (Toshiba NB100) with Windows XP Home started up this
morning with an error:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupt: \Windows\system32\config\system

Boot from install CD and select R to repair"



My netbook has a SATA HDD so when I boot from the XP CD I have to
supply the SATA driver from an external floppy.

I did this and then got THIS error!

File iaStor.sys caused an unexpected error (43538) at the line 2113
in d:\xpsprtm\base\boot\setup\oemdisk.c

How do I now proceed?

So you're using a WinXP Gold (no Service Pack) installer CD ?

That's how I interpret "xpsprtm", as a Gold installer CD.

Just a guess, at the vintage of installer CD.

Another problem is XP SP0 or SP1 won't install or repair from a USB
optical drive. As this wasn't supported until SP2. Windows 2000 has the
same problem. But that wasn't supported until SP4.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core2 Duo T5600 1.83GHz - 4GB - Windows XP SP2