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    was surfing on my laptop last night and suddenly saw the blue screen, computer rebooted and I was left with:

     

    Windows could not start becasue 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, etc, etc.

     

    Problem is that this is a Toshiba laptop that came preloaded with XP - I have the Toshiba startup disks, but they don't do anything for this registry problem.  I searched the web this morning, and found one Microsoft article describing how to possibly rectify the situation, but it too requires having these startup disks.

     

    I then looked through/searched Microsoft downloads, and can find a download for computers without a bootable CD-Rom (I think this one has a bootable...) looks like this particular download once run will require 6 floppy disks...again, this is a laptop with only a cd/dvd drive.

     

    How do I go about getting these start-up disks?

     

    Thanks so much!

    Tuesday, February 12, 2008 2:29 PM

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    Brad_Vision,

     

    The MS Knowledgebase article that tells you how to work around a registry corruption issue is only intended to get the computer operational again in order for you to copy off your data, so that you can do a clean installation of XP AFTER you diagnose and fix the original cause of the registry problem.

     

    A better way to copy off your data is to use a BartPE disc from whihc you start the computer, then you can copy your data off to an external hard disk drive or flash drive.  Just search the net for "BartPE" to get info on how to do make a BartPE disc.  Of course, you'll need another XP computer to do it

    Wednesday, February 13, 2008 3:26 AM

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    Brad_Vision,

     

    The MS Knowledgebase article that tells you how to work around a registry corruption issue is only intended to get the computer operational again in order for you to copy off your data, so that you can do a clean installation of XP AFTER you diagnose and fix the original cause of the registry problem.

     

    A better way to copy off your data is to use a BartPE disc from whihc you start the computer, then you can copy your data off to an external hard disk drive or flash drive.  Just search the net for "BartPE" to get info on how to do make a BartPE disc.  Of course, you'll need another XP computer to do it

    Wednesday, February 13, 2008 3:26 AM
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    Thanks for your help - we ended up deciding this issue was above our knowledge base and took the computer to a local IT professional who has been able to extract the data from the hard drive and additionally diagnosed that the hard drive has gone bad.

     

    Friday, February 15, 2008 2:13 PM