Condor Posted October 14, 2009 Share #1 Posted October 14, 2009 This is the wifes computor. I'm locked out mine. Can't boot it up. We had a ton of dropped power today due to the big storm that hit California, and the last time I tried to reboot the system I get this "\windows\system32\config\system is corrupt or missing" It goes on to tell me to stick the original setup CD in... which I never had... and hit 'r' for repair. The thing came from DELL with windows XP Media already loaded. Any ideas??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigfoot Posted October 14, 2009 Share #2 Posted October 14, 2009 You could always call Dell but if you don't speak one of the many foreign languages their support people speak then you're SOL. The tech people are all in India or somewhere similar and very hard to understand. I wish I had some good advice for you but I don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Posted October 14, 2009 Share #3 Posted October 14, 2009 Usually during boot you hit the F10 or other key to get a setup from the hidden windows media partition. As it first boots up, look for information as to which key to hit. It may also be in the trouble shooting section of your owners manual if you still have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverdeer0454 Posted October 14, 2009 Share #4 Posted October 14, 2009 Just talked to my co-worker who is working on his Microsoft Certification. Windows is now corrupt on your computer. The computer itself is OK..it's just windows that is lost. When the computer shut down incorrectly (as with a power failure) it corrupted the system 32 files. In many cases the "repair" does not work. When you attempt the repair your cd drivers will disappear and eventually all you will get is the "Blue Screen of Death". Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. You will need to reinstall windows. Here's the kicker....everything on that computer will probably be lost. The same thing happened to me and I lost hundreds of pictures, videos, and documents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wes0778 Posted October 14, 2009 Share #5 Posted October 14, 2009 Right after powering the machine, try hitting F8 right after the "Dell" screen to get a black and white DOS type menu. Select (paraphrasing) "Use Last Known Good Session". Good Luck!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Posted October 14, 2009 Share #6 Posted October 14, 2009 Now would be a good time to switch to Linux. Be done with all the hassles and blue screens, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share #7 Posted October 14, 2009 Not a good sign. My son-in-law has a gizmo where you can plug the hard drive into another computor's USB and treat it as a slave and write all the working files to CD's I wonder if doing that first and then reinstalling Windows would lessen the pain?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverdeer0454 Posted October 14, 2009 Share #8 Posted October 14, 2009 Co-worker says...It might work if the other computer can actually read past the corrupted Windows files..Give it a try and let me know. I still have my old computer on the floor of my "Man Cave" and if it works for you then I might be able to salvage some of the stuff on my POS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share #9 Posted October 14, 2009 Right after powering the machine, try hitting F8 right after the "Dell" screen to get a black and white DOS type menu. Select (paraphrasing) "Use Last Known Good Session". Good Luck!!! Just tried that and it's still snafu. Unless it can find that system file in the hive it won't let you get any farther. In this case it's the Black Screen of Death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share #10 Posted October 14, 2009 Co-worker says...It might work if the other computer can actually read past the corrupted Windows files..Give it a try and let me know. I still have my old computer on the floor of my "Man Cave" and if it works for you then I might be able to salvage some of the stuff on my POS. I gather the config part is where all the personal settings arre, and it won't let you go any farther until it finds that file.... Locks up tighter than a frogs rear end.... i think I'm going to end up re-installing windows XP. we have a way to save the work files and pics... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wes0778 Posted October 14, 2009 Share #11 Posted October 14, 2009 If the "Last Known Good..." Thingy does not work, try the "r" thing and if it asks if you have an ERD (Emergency Repair Disk) say no and see if it will find the repair files that are hidden on your hard drive in a folder called "Repair" under either a folder called "Windows" or "WINNT". All IS NOT lost yet!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share #12 Posted October 14, 2009 If the "Last Known Good..." Thingy does not work, try the "r" thing and if it asks if you have an ERD (Emergency Repair Disk) say no and see if it will find the repair files that are hidden on your hard drive in a folder called "Repair" under either a folder called "Windows" or "WINNT". All IS NOT lost yet!!! Trouble is we can't read anything past that config file. Can't access anything on the drive until it has an OS. Even the repair won't work until windows is booted. Can we install Linux and retain the programs and work files?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddyRich Posted October 14, 2009 Share #13 Posted October 14, 2009 (edited) Jack there's a couple of ways to fix that. Most are probably more than the average user is capable of. YES pulling the HD and slaving it will allow you to get all of the important pics and Docs you need off of it. You have a corrupted registry or a couple of system files. You won't be concerned with those since slaving the drive requires nothing off of it but to be able to read the format (NTFS). It would be faster to do that and then do a recovery from the "restore partition" or Dell Windows XP cd. Then reinstall your programs and copy your files back... OH yea, This will keep youbusy for a while. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545 Edited October 14, 2009 by BuddyRich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share #14 Posted October 14, 2009 Thanks Buddy. I just waved goodby to the CPU. It's off to my son-in-laws for a couple of days. He's the family sys-op. Didn't realize how addicted I was to that thing... Am going thru withdrawl now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texaskid Posted October 14, 2009 Share #15 Posted October 14, 2009 Jack. Same thing happened to me several years ago. Lost every thing, didn't back up anything. Bought new computer and then a year later had the other one fixed. I took it to a place there on Fair Oaks by the school Deterdine. The guy charged me $200.00 to get it back in shape and he increased the memory too. Had it ready in a couple of days. I figured it could be used by the kids and it cost less than having to pay for a new one. When I bought the new one, I backed up all the os on a disc just in case. Just a thought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty Posted October 14, 2009 Share #16 Posted October 14, 2009 A friend of mine lost his OS. I took the had drive out and plugged it into my mac and everthing was still there. I copied his pics to a couple of dvds for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camos Posted October 14, 2009 Share #17 Posted October 14, 2009 Just in case your son does not know this... If the hard drive has enough room, WinXP can be installed in a different partition which will create a boot menu with the choice of the original and the new install to boot into. None of the programs installed on the original version will work unless they are reinstalled into the second version. With this setup there are two options. First option just transfer the program data files to another HD or a memory stick then do a complete reinstall of Windows. The Dell support disks will erase all data and reinstall XP in the original condition it was when purchased. The second option is to find the corrupt file/s in the first install and fix them. With the computer running on a second version of Windows the system files of the first version can be written to without any problem. There is a possible third option which is to get an upgrade fersion of XP or Vista if you prefer and install that over top of the old XP. I haven't played with Vista at all and only somewhat with XP but I used that trick all the time on W95, W98 and W2K operating system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tx2sturgis Posted October 14, 2009 Share #18 Posted October 14, 2009 (edited) This might be of some help: http://askville.amazon.com/find-dell-recovery-cd-lost-mines-wipe-computer/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=19079015 You could buy a new hard drive and install it as the master drive, then install windows using these recovery/install discs, then plug in the original crashed drive and set it up as a slave drive to recover all the old files you need. I have done this very procedure when i was running a windows machine, and more than once. Edited October 14, 2009 by tx2sturgis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friesman Posted October 14, 2009 Share #19 Posted October 14, 2009 Hi Jack This would be a good time to pick up a new drive, install it as new master, unplug your old drive, install XP on your new drive and then hook up your old drive to get all your data off and use it as storage. Anytime you install anything or store files save to the secondary drive. That way the next time XP goes south on you all you do is reinstall XP on your primary and all your files are still on thje secondary drive. Another thing I have done when in a hurry, (but only after getting a copy of your data off the drive) is just install Xp over top of the corrupt install and it usually installs just fine and all programs run as they did before. BUT this only works about 60%-70% of the time, sometimes ya still gotta format the drive...lol Another thing to do after you have it all back together is install a free program called Mozy home ( https://mozy.com/registration/free)that allows 2 gigs of free backups to their servers and it allows you to schedule and everything. Its kinda nice to have the really important files offsite in case of something catastrophic. If you get stuck give me a call 306-539-0728 (cell) Good luck Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kregerdoodle Posted October 14, 2009 Share #20 Posted October 14, 2009 BINGO !! Had that happen a few months ago, ended up taking it in so that they could save my documents and pics, then had to reload windows.... you will end up with a new machine, when done, sure hope that you can save all of your stuff. Had to take mine to the Geek Squad to do it...cost me a hundred bucks, but the pics where worth more then that... Good luck.. Just talked to my co-worker who is working on his Microsoft Certification. Windows is now corrupt on your computer. The computer itself is OK..it's just windows that is lost. When the computer shut down incorrectly (as with a power failure) it corrupted the system 32 files. In many cases the "repair" does not work. When you attempt the repair your cd drivers will disappear and eventually all you will get is the "Blue Screen of Death". Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. You will need to reinstall windows. Here's the kicker....everything on that computer will probably be lost. The same thing happened to me and I lost hundreds of pictures, videos, and documents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_wells Posted October 14, 2009 Share #21 Posted October 14, 2009 Find a friend that has Windows Xp and use his cd to do the repair boot from the CD it will notice the OS installed and notice it is damaged and one of the options will be to repair the current install of windows You might need use the wife's computer to go to DELL website and download any drivers you will need you may need the following most likely not because it is a repair not a new install network --- video --- sound --- chipset --- You can put the on a cd or a usb drive hopes that helps Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share #22 Posted October 14, 2009 The problem here is I don't have the setup CD's. Thank you DELL. And now since the warantee has expired they want to charge $ even to talk to them. I think the best way to do this is to pick up another HD, as friesman1 and tx2sturgis suggested, and use the old drive as a slave. I'll need to call Mike and find out if he's started saving files yet. The HD in there now is an 80g and about half full, so maybe another 80?? or what ever I can find on sale... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camos Posted October 14, 2009 Share #23 Posted October 14, 2009 If you find another 80 g drive it will probably cost a fortune. Today without even shopping around you can get a 500 gb for about $50 and a terabyte for $100. With such a small HD it certainly makes sense as suggested to get a new big second one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share #24 Posted October 14, 2009 If you find another 80 g drive it will probably cost a fortune. Today without even shopping around you can get a 500 gb for about $50 and a terabyte for $100. With such a small HD it certainly makes sense as suggested to get a new big second one. Yep... got the 500 to 1T on the shopping list. Going over to Fry's later on this morning.... I do have one question. With something that big how does it effect access time?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camos Posted October 14, 2009 Share #25 Posted October 14, 2009 The bigger HDs are faster. They are all 3.5" so the increased capacity is in multiple disks with multiple heads and higher data density. The bigger drives also generally have larger caches that help to speed things up as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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