How to repair Windows XP/2000 if you are unable to boot into Windows

Have you run a diagnostic on your drives?

It sounds like one could be bad. This would account for the blue screens and odd behavior perhaps.

Originally posted by Rick
Have you run a diagnostic on your drives?

It sounds like one could be bad. This would account for the blue screens and odd behavior perhaps.

No, how do I do that? Im assuming it requires hooking them up as a slave on another computer, but what program should I use?

P.S. Thanks for the quick reply

Try this thread for more information:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7602

I love how new computers come with the recovery consul automatically in the computer and you never even need a CD. I always back up my stuff on zip as i am sure you'll do but the recovery ahs saved my butt many times especially with my kids doing god knows what on the internet. I do that recovery and poof an hour later i am ready to go

Originally posted by Jameson653
I love how new computers come with the recovery consul automatically in the computer and you never even need a CD. I always back up my stuff on zip as i am sure you'll do but the recovery ahs saved my butt many times especially with my kids doing god knows what on the internet. I do that recovery and poof an hour later i am ready to go

Well, I'm still lost with my problem, but in response to that: Yes, its wonderful as long as you're aware of the feature before it happens...lol. Oh well...at least Sony offers recovery disks. Unfortunately the one I had claimed it recovered it, but then said windows wasn't fully installed on boot :-/. Looks like its time for a run to the Sony service center so they can't blame it on me when I f' it up trying to fix it myself :)

Hi. I'm new to this so I hope this post is ok. I followed your instructions to the letter. I was able to boot from the CD. When it got to the Windows setup, it told me the partition wasn't formatted or was damaged and asked if I wanted to reformat. I did. It then installed Win XP completely and rebooted itself to the welcome, etc. I installed my Office 2003 and it was fine. Then I started to install my software for my dialup service (AT &T). It connected to the Internet and went through a couple of screens to the install an existing account. When I put in my username and password, the system locked up. I couldn't do anything, not even move the mouse cursor. I finally had to reboot. And when I did....back to the blue screen again.

Any ideas?? Thanks

You could possibly have a damaged hard drive. Try Rick's suggestion to me: run a diagnostic. Scroll up for more details.

Originally posted by sweetchips
Hi. I'm new to this so I hope this post is ok. I followed your instructions to the letter. I was able to boot from the CD. When it got to the Windows setup, it told me the partition wasn't formatted or was damaged and asked if I wanted to reformat. I did. It then installed Win XP completely and rebooted itself to the welcome, etc. I installed my Office 2003 and it was fine. Then I started to install my software for my dialup service (AT &T). It connected to the Internet and went through a couple of screens to the install an existing account. When I put in my username and password, the system locked up. I couldn't do anything, not even move the mouse cursor. I finally had to reboot. And when I did....back to the blue screen again.

Any ideas?? Thanks

That tells me you almost definitely have a hardware problem. And typically, this kind of problem is caused by either hard drive or memory.

You should run a drive diagnostic on your hard drive. See several replies up for more information.

Originally posted by bakertime361
I used to have a 120 GB Western Digital HD and a 20GB IBM (slave) hooked up to my computer, but just the other day i replaced the 20GB slave with a 3.5 GB slave to hold a few files. Well, right after I replaced it, i turned it on and also saw the "windows did not boot properly screen" When I press start windows normally, or any of the options to start Safe Mode, The XP Home screem begins to appear, then it restarts the computer. This just happens over and over. My question is would the repair that you recomended for the problem above also work for this? Obviously im trying to avoid having to reformat. Also, because my computer only shipped with a certificate of authenticity and no XP cd, will the repair work with another XP cd as long as i used my key? Thanks for the help,
-Baker

The certificate will work fine as long as you use the same version of Windows to repair/reinstall as the certificate.
ie: XP Home product keys do not work with XP Pro, or vice versa.

However, product keys for Retail, OEM or manufacturer-specific versions of XP will work with each other fine..
ie. XP Home from a Dell computer will work fine in any other computer since they use the same keys as standard versions of XP Home.
Of course, that computer will need to have its own CD-key or you get into an "activation" pickle. :)

A couple days ago i got this message when i booted my PC : Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt : \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM.
I do not have a recovery CD or ASR disk.
I cannot go in safe mode or back to a previous good config, i always get the same error message.
When i boot from the Win XP CD, installing the VIARAID driver on the way since my HDs are in Raid 0, my PC freezes when i get to the Setup screen where i could select to setup XP again or repair it.
I consulted the Microsoft Knowledge Articles about that problem (like #307545, 308041 and 822705, among others) but it doesn't help in my situation since i cannot start the recovery console or anything else for that matter ! Can anyone help ?
Thanks

Have you checked if there's an update for RAID firmware?

Well, i went to Intel's site and got the latest Floppy Configuration Utility Raid Edition for Win XP Pro (IAAR2 Floppy.exe) and made a new floppy with the 'Intel® 82801ER Serial RAID Controller'. I F6'ed it during the XP setup but my PC still freezes when i get to the Welcome to Setup screen !
Thanks anyway !
Any other idea ?

HI.... I'm new here, and I wanted to give this information, just in case one day it might help someone. I have done numerous repairs and attempted repairs of Windows XP...some are successful, but not always. I have found that the information in the MS Knowledgebase has helped me as a last resort, be able to get into XP with a minor loss of any program. I guess I can't guarantee it will always work, but it has not failed me yet. At least if it's due to registry corruption and not a driver/program issue that even prevents entering windows in safe mode. If someone already posted this...sorry about that...but I have had this work!! And it's always worth a try. Just read the following link:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545&Product=winxp


Hope this can help even one of you from doing a complete format and losing data....otherwise...there's always Norton Ghost! hehe...at least to back up the HD....

Thanks Rowdy. I already knew about that but since i can't access the recovery console i cannot do the procedure described in that article. I even tried making the 6 start-up diskettes but it gets me to the same point where my PC freezes at the Welcome to set-up screen so i can't get anywhere. Lol, i come to regret the old days of Win98 where i could go in DOS to try to fix things up.

hello I am having some major PC problems hopefully someone can help. Heres the story I have an FX 5900 graphics card and everynow and then i have been getting a notice that it isn't reciveing enough power and it tells me that it is shutting down part of the card so no damage will occur to it I don't remember the exact message. the problem I had next was when I tried to play any games it would freeze up on me. I checked all my connections in the pc and all of them were ok including the extra power cable for the card. so I thought maybe something was messed up with the drivers so I found the newest drivers and installed them it didn't help. So I tried to instal a previous set of drivers I had and once I rebooted the screen was a bunch of diffrent colors and I couldn't see a thing. When I tried rebooting to get into safemode I remembered I didn't know the key to hit to get to it I tried all the usuals F1 F2 and others it didn't work but windows tried to boot up but it said it couldn't because the file \windows\system32\config\system was missing or corrupt. I tried to go through and repair windows similar to one of the posts earlier it showed that my partition was there but it didn't give me the option to repair it. windows suggested that I use the repair option you get when you first boot windows with the cd but I have no idea how to use the recovery console. If anyone has any suggestions i am willing to try anything right now except reformatting of course. thanks for taking the time to read this
P.S. I am using my grandmothers MAC <shivers> to try and find the information I need. thanks again for reading my problem

Rabbidnad:
If you check the first post in this thread, it shows you how to repair windows without the recovery console. :)

Your graphics card problem is probably caused by a weak power supply or having too many devices connected to a single a "rail". There are typically 3 rails.. 3.3v, 5v and 12v. What this means is you may need to upgrade your power supply. The 5900 draws a considerable amount of power... From which rail I'm not sure though.

If you disconnect some unnecssary devices, that might be good enough to get rid of the power problems. If that is the case, then you'll definitely need to upgrade your power supply.

Another consideration is some sort of funny hardware failure that may be causing the card to report low power, such as a bad CPU, card or motherboard. These things are more unlikely though.

And software is also possible, but I'm betting that is even more unlikely than the above. And while I've never seen that happen, I certainly wouldn't rule it out. :)

Thanks for the suggestions but I guess I forgot to mention I tried to repair windows using the method in the first post but I am unable to repair windows it dosn't give me the option to repair it but I know it detects that there is a partition there and that windows is aleady installed on it. I only get the option to delete the partition or install windows or create a new partition.
I was thinking that I might be able to get another small HD and install windows on it and then make the non working one a slave and see if I couldn't get the information I need off the slave and then reformat the slave to be a perminent slave and have the small one with just windows on it. Another option I was thinking about was getting a small HD and installing windos on it and then copying the windows files over to the large HD and see if windows would then boot up off the large one. I don't know if any of these options would work or not they were just some things I was thinking about.

If you have any other ideas I am more than willing to try anything thanks again for the help.

my computer did not come with a windows xp cd. so how do i go about fixing this problem. should i go n buy a windows xp home edition cd to fix it or what.
any n all suggestions would help. thx.

Originally posted by GIRLIEGIRL
my computer did not come with a windows xp cd. so how do i go about fixing this problem. should i go n buy a windows xp home edition cd to fix it or what.
any n all suggestions would help. thx.

I would try borrowing an XP CD from a friend and use the instructions for installing the recovery console. that would save you from having to buy a CD just because the manufacturer is too cheap to give you a real copy of XP.

i will try to see if ne one i know owns a copy, if not im resorting to buying one. this problem is stupid n complex. urgh.....

Sorry to hear that, but maybe if you tell us a little more of your problem, we might be able to help.

BTW,
:wave:Welcome to TechSpot:wave:

I've read this entire thread and have a lot of similar issues but have not see anything exactly like what I am experiencing.

All I was doing was writing down some things on notepad, hadn't installed anything new, then I rebooted.

My screen loads the Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition loading screen. The three green bars move and stop, move and stop, move and stop. There is no sound or notice of activity coming from my hard drive (ie, the light isn't blinking) so I reboot.

Upon second reboot, it gives me the option of rebooting to safe mode, safe mode to command prompt, safe mode to network, last known working specs, or as normal. I choose as normal, and reach the same "hangtime" on the XP Load screen.

After a few more reboots, I try safe mode. It loads some drivers and then at the bottom it says "press esc to cancel loading a347bus.sys" which disappears rather I press it or not, then hangs on "multi(0)disk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\Mup.sys" and hangs and hangs.

So I came here, and saw about trying stuff. I have tried pressing F12 and going into the diagnostic menu, which has the "symptoms" testing, I chose OS Fails to load, it ran a 30 minute multitude of tests all which passed, as did the extended test that tested everything.

I also tried booting from the XP CD, and tried both repairing, which fails to work because it hangs on "Examining 250000 Disk:0 Partition 0" and the same goes for trying to do a fresh install. I cannot even boot to the command prompt.

So basically, I hang at the OS load screen, cannot get into any type of safe mode, the internal diagnostics tested everything fine, and I cannot repair or install a fresh copy of XP, so I have 2 questions.

1-Is it possible, since I was able to safely unhook my hard disk to make sure it was clean with canned air, to hook it up to a second computer to see if it loads, or will it just do the same thing since it's all on the hard disk.

2-Are there any fresh ideas on what to try that I have not listed. Nothing I have seen as a solution has worked, or I just can't do them, is it possible my processor is fried, or my drive, or maybe the cross cables, and how much would it cost to fix those (rough estimate) and is it easy to do with instructions or would it be better handled by a tech.

Sorry for the long posts and all the questions, and any help would be most appreciated.

No worry about the long post mate, you've gotta get your question out there somehow :) And if you wouldn't have given all the information the first time, chances are we would have asked for it the second time. :P

For your first question, you can put the drive into another computer as a slave and see if it is reconginzed in Windows. But to try to boot it into another computer would be a bit harder. The other computer would have to be the exact same components and chipset on your mobo as the currentcomputer.
Some things you can try would be o do a bare bones boot, and see what happens. I know I used to hang on mup.sys for a while, and after installing a new patch, don't remember which one, it fixed itself.
Maybe this will let you get your data back for now, and maybe someone else will help you resolve the issue.

BTW,
:wave:Welcome to TechSpot:wave:

Ok, what exactly is and how do I do a "bare bones boot" and also, how do I set my hd as a slave in another computer?

Thanks for the info.

i guess a bare bones boot is where you try to boot with just motherboard, processor, memory and graphics card. And of course PSU. You don't connect anything else.

you make a hard drive a slave by changing the jumper setting on its back. there is a little cap thingy over two pins. you move that little cap. it will be written on the drive what position designates slave, master, cable select, etc.

Well I took my hard drive out of my computer and put it on my second computer (they are both the same model, bought at the same time, same setting and everything) as primary, and still the drive would not boot. It did the same thing hooked to that, so confirms the hard drive is the problem. Now what else I found was that someone said I could boot to a recovery console and do a repair to the boot write (or something like that) but you have to get into windows to boot into the recovery console correct?)

Lastly, I put my drive as a slave on the secondary computer and it would not even recognize it.

I am open to any more suggestions, but something tells me for some reason my HD is toast since I cannot get in to "patch" the mup.sys hang, or install the recovery console, and I would rather avoid paying $50 an hour to the cheapest tech in town.

Thanks for the help guys, unless you can offer me some more suggestions.

Well it sounds to me like the hard drive is going out, especially since it can't be recognized as a slave in your good computer.

Hey All!

i too am having probs, with my work computer. the tech guy quit on friday, so i'm on my own! well here it goes...
one day last week i downloaded some real media clips on my lunch break. didn't have anything to play them, so i downloaded\installed real player. it had been a while since i used real player; i forgot how much crap goes along with it. so i watched the clips (stupid), and decided to uninstall real player. i did, and it gave me a warning about some other files (didn't pay attention at the time). i just clicked yes and went along with the uninstall. well a little while after, i noticed that the network icon in the notification area (by the clock) was missing. so i go to network connections. nothing, no window, nothing... i click it like 3 more times, then a blank window pops up; no wizzard, no connections, nothing. reboot. no change. well, i'll figure it out later, i'm still connected to the network. as the day progresses, i notice that things are slowing down. like using windows explorer takes forever. so i figured real player took some windows files with it when i uninstalled it. i'll just do a repair of windows to replace the missing files. started well enough, then:
"setup cannot copy the file:"
wzcsapi.dll
wzcsvc.dll
cryptui.dll
wzcdlg.dll

i had to skip them, had no choise. setup restarted the computer, came to a grainy blue setup screen, with "setup is being restarted". reboot. grainy blue setup screen, with "setup is being restarted". reboot. grainy blue setup screen, with "setup is being restarted". reboot. (i left the cd in BTW)
now i'm stuck in a loop. i don't know if i can get to safe mode or anything?! HELP!!! if i don't get any work done tomorrow, i'll get fired!!! i spent half my 3 day weekend researching this, without much luck. i have to go in tomorrow and fix this. i can't do a full install of windows; we have a third party login software (Netware), and will render it useless. damn real player.

thanks,

BadBoy :cool:

:wave: Hello and Welcom to TechSpot :wave:

What OS are you using?
If it's XP you should be able to find most of the files in your driver.cab, which can be opened by winzip/winrar or similar.
Extract them and copy them to %windir%\system32

If you are using windows 2000 pro and can't find the files, PM me and I'll send them to you...
(Note, mine will be updated to SP4 as I can't find the originals)

Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone can assist me with my problem. My Gateway laptop all of a sudden wont boot anymore. It gives me this message ( Missing or Corrupt file ) \windows\system32\config\system
I have an XP cd to repair it, I just need guidlines on what to do.
So far Ive gotten to the part where it says ( Install XP on this Partition or Repair XP ) need help on what to do after that.

Any other way I can acces my files in that HD?? I need to recover my homework and other documents.

Thanks all.

Hello!

Just received my MSI K8N Neo Plat and A64 3k+, and decided to use my current W2k installation.
Removed all the motherboard specific devices I found in Device Manager and installed the new mobo.

Only problem is that I didn't remember to remove the harddrives and cd/dvd players. And since I do not have enough IDE connectors, I had to let the DVD-rom sit this one out until I buy a SATA->PATA converter.

And now every time I try to boot into win2k I get a lovely BSOD proclaiming that I've got an "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE".

I've tried to repair it by doing a fast repair, manual repair and through the recovery console. In the latter I've also turned off all the VIA services I could find (as the new motherboard is nforce based).

I've installed win2k in a new location (or rather, I tried to re-install, win2k chose another harddrive alltogether), and from there tried to copy all the driver information gathered into the old installation.
Still won't load.

I am currently investigating any possible solution on the net (I would very much like to get back into that installation), and any help you can give me is greatly appreciated.

EDIT:
Oh, and I know there isn't a problem with the drive itself, as it has W98SE installed and I can boot into that (or rather safemode, but that's another story entirely), and from my new win2k installation I have full access to all the files on the C: drive.

Yes, I know, do a fresh installation, and yes I do plan on doing that, but that's at the earliest when my X800pro arrives...

Nevermind, fixed that problem. :)

I'll post up details on how to move a system disk from one motherboard to another later on.
Now I've got to figure out how to fix the infinite loop I've gotten. :(

SO, I'm sitting here starting a repair on an XP box that just reports "corrupt or missing SYSTEM" on boot, and I've searched threads here and elsewhere.

Everyone assumes that one can boot from the XP CD. Well, what if the CD-ROM drive isn't bootable (old IBM)??? Seems all the executables don't run in DOS mode, so how does one start the SETUP routine to get to the repair console?!?!?!?! ;)

Help!
Jack

I don't know if this will work or not, as I've never touched an XP cd, but it does work on win2k cd's, so I figure it'll work here too...

Boot with a bootdisk (which includes cd-rom drivers).
Navigate to i386 on the xp cd, and launch winnt.exe (or winnt32.exe).

That should launch the install program.

Note: you will get faster copying if you enable smartdrv before you launch setup.

I've got the missing or corrupt windows\system32\config\system message...I can boot to safe mode but can't use the safe mode with command prompt option. The message "can attempt repair by starting Windows Setup using the original setup CD-ROM, select 'r' for repair"...the only CD's I have are the HP system recovery discs. I'll lose all my data if I use these, right? Are there other Windows discs that I'm supposed to have?

Help.

Another method would be to d/l the Knoppix ISO and boot the CD. It's a complete operating system on a disk.

Restore any really important data, then re-install everything.

This also works for retreiving WIN2k/ME/98se passwords and l0phtcracking them. Another reason Admins shouldn't have CDroms on dummy workstations :D

Please see my post "One for the PRO's" in a new thread if u think you are an expert...


Good luck! :)

o0clocks0o

Hi,

I have many problems with image errors ect, my whole system32 .dll files are pretty messed up. I would like to repair my windows but as i have an emachines system, i recieved 2 restore disks with it, with all files and drivers i need (including windows). Does anyone know how i can repair?

Thanks

ps. sfc /scannow does not work, it says it requires the windows xp home edition disk, either of my restore disks do not work in this stage, need another solution to repairing.

Here's what i'm working with...

My girlfriend's Dad bought a computer that does not have any recovery discs, etc. His computer is experiencing very similar symptoms as described above.

1. The unit constantly attempts to boot and makes it to the windows screen (the one with the moving blue bar at the bottom)...the screen goes black, then comes back with the same windows screen before restarting.

2. I have tried hitting the F8 button to try the safe mode stuff, and it takes me to the screen where I can try the different boot options..however, I cannot move the cursor up and down using my keyboard or anything else...i'm completely baffled by this because I know the keyboard works when I'm in the BIOS screen (I have already made sure my CDROM has higher boot priority too).

3. Obviously, I'm completely at a loss of what my next step should be...Oh, I forgot to tell you, I personally own a newer Compaq Presario and I've been trying to use my Windows recovery CD on his computer. We both had XP Home OSes.

What would you guys recommend? Should I ditch the HD and buy a whole new copy of Windows and simply start over? If so, what should I keep in mind moving forward with this plan of action.

Thanks all.
David :confused:

2. I have tried hitting the F8 button to try the safe mode stuff, and it takes me to the screen where I can try the different boot options..however, I cannot move the cursor up and down using my keyboard or anything else...i'm completely baffled by this because I know the keyboard works when I'm in the BIOS screen

Check if BIOS has an option to set USB keyboard or legacy device support to be controlled by BIOS instead of OS.

How to perform an "in place upgrade" or system repair.

Is your system unable to boot into Windows XP/2000 or even Safe Mode? Whether you get a blue screen or XP/2000 just hangs, then this information is for you. This will allow you to repair your Windows XP/2000 installation (hopefully) without having to losing your data or settings.

Indications:
May allow Windows to load properly if there are critical driver, software or registry problems which have rendered the system unbootable. (Blue screens, hanging, errors etc..)
May repair/reinstall missing Windows components or solve otherwise quirky behavior
May allow drive to be installed on another system or motherboard with different chipset


This information will also allow you to install new motherboards or make other large hardware changes that XP may not readily accept with PnP.

Note: The system repair function will remove any updates you have previously installed that are not included on the CD. Drivers will also be reverted to their original XP versions, as well as some settings (network & performance settings may sometimes be reset to their defaults). It may be necessary to reactivate your Windows XP as well.

Step 1: Determine the problem[list]
First, figure out what CAUSED the problem. Often times, when Windows is rendered unbootable, there is a good reason. This can often be due to hardware failure (bad hard disk, memory or CPU for example). In these cases, the system repair function will not work. System repair will only repair your software.

I strongly recommend you run a disk utility on your hard drive before performing a system repair. You can find more information about disk utilities here:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7602

Memory can also cause these problems. A good memory test can be found here: www.memtest86.com


Step 2: Begin the repair processYou must boot from your XP or 2000 CD. Please make sure it is the same version of Windows that is currently installed on your computer (ex. XP Home cannot upgrade XP Professional). Place the CD in your CDROM and start your computer. Newer versions will work as well (ie. Windows XP Pro SP1 CD will work on an older WinXP Pro non-SP1 installation)

Before the Windows logo appears, you will be asked to press any key to boot from CD, so do just that.

If you are unable to boot from the XP/2000 CD, then please check the last step in this short guide.


Step 3: System repair stepsA blue screen will appear and will begin loading XP setup from the CD.

RAID/SCSI/Unsupported UDMA users:
You will be prompted to "press F6 to install any third party SCSI or RAID drivers". Most users will not have to press F6, but if you are running RAID, SCSI or unsupported UDMA controllers, then you will have to have your controller drivers on a floppy disk. If you are unsure whether you have RAID/SCSI, then simply let the CD load without pressing F6.

Once completed, you will be confronted with "Windows Setup". You will be asked to setup up Windows, or repair Windows with the recovery console. Choose the FIRST option, NOT recovery console.

http://web.qx.net/rburgess/storage/XPrepair/2.gif


Choose F8 to continue.

http://web.qx.net/rburgess/storage/XPrepair/3.gif

Next, Windows Setup will find existing Windows XP/2000 installations. You will be asked to repair an existing XP installation or install a fresh copy of Windows XP/2000.

If no installations are found, then you will not be given the option to repair. This may happen if the data or partition on your drive is too corrupted.

http://web.qx.net/rburgess/storage/XPrepair/4.gif


That should be it. Windows XP/2000 will appear to be installing itself for the first time, but it will retain all of your data and settings. Just follow the prompts, have your CD-KEY handy and hope for the best!


Hope you can help me out Rick. I am doing the repair process you described above because I had to have my motherboard replaced.

During the installation process, it would hang at "34 minutes remaining". It would then ask me for a DLL file for my soundcard. I locate the file and click OK but the installation process goes no further. The system reboots and the installation process restarts. It goes to 34 minutes remaining again and then just hangs for a while and the computer restarts and this process continues. Should I try something else? I wanted to install fresh but got a message saying that my files and folders would be lost so I decided to stop.

There are a few things you can try. Since it is asking for a DLL for your soundcard you can just SKIP this file and continue with the intallation, then install the drivers for the soundcard after you have XP up and running again.

Another thing is next time it restarts try taking out your XP CD and see what happens, if it hangs when it is supposed to restart on purpose, then it is trying to boot form CD and it needs to boot from the install files on the hard drive instead.

Give that a shot and post back whether it helped or not. Thanks.

There are a few things you can try. Since it is asking for a DLL for your soundcard you can just SKIP this file and continue with the intallation, then install the drivers for the soundcard after you have XP up and running again.

Another thing is next time it restarts try taking out your XP CD and see what happens, if it hangs when it is supposed to restart on purpose, then it is trying to boot form CD and it needs to boot from the install files on the hard drive instead.

Give that a shot and post back whether it helped or not. Thanks.


Yup....i tried the first suggestion the very first time it tried to do the repair process. I clicked CANCEL when it asked for my DLL file. However, the prompt just stayed there and wouldn't go away. Soon after the system rebooted and the installation process restarted. The second time I went and got my DLL file and clicked OK. XP seemed to recognized it because the prompt window went away but the installation process hung at 34% complete even though the user friendly window shots kept changing. Then the system would reboot.

As for the 2nd option, I tried that as well. The system would restart and it would get to the installation process and then it would prompt me to put the windows CD back in.

Well I removed my sound card and the installation process did not continue. Same problem with hanging and then restarting. I will do a clean installation on a reformatted HD.

I am working on a friends computer and what started as a loss of sound and trying to run th xp repair has now turned ugly. I am getting exactly where fretman got in the process(34Minutes) and the screen just shut off. After a few minutes the hd stops all activity and I am working from a dark screen. When I reboot, it starts all over again. I hate to start with a clean install and lose all my friends date, but the way it continues to freeze up at 34 min. I'm not sure that would work either.

Any ideas? HD? thanks for any help you may have

I am working on a friends computer and what started as a loss of sound and trying to run th xp repair has now turned ugly. I am getting exactly where fretman got in the process(34Minutes) and the screen just shut off. After a few minutes the hd stops all activity and I am working from a dark screen. When I reboot, it starts all over again. I hate to start with a clean install and lose all my friends date, but the way it continues to freeze up at 34 min. I'm not sure that would work either.

Any ideas? HD? thanks for any help you may have

Yup...when I tried to repair XP-Professional it would hang at 34 minutes during the installation process and then reboot and restart the installation process again and again. The first time it prompted me for a DLL file for my audio card. I installed the DLL file but that didn't work. I then removed the audio card and that still didn't work. I finally had to do a clean install on another harddrive which I keep handy in case of emergencies like this. I did find however that the installation process even on a new drive seemed to hang a bit at 34% before continuing.

However, when I connected the old drive that I was doing the repair on as the slave so I could copy the contents over to the new drive the system scanned the old drive upon boot up for consistency and found an error with the pagesys file.

Anyways, if you don't want to lose your friends data then just buy another hard drive and install XP on it and then copy your friends drive contents onto the new one. It's always good to have an extra drive anyways and you can just get a 40gig for a relatively low price these days.

You could also try hitting F8 in the beginning when the setup says "Press F6 to install new SCSI drivers" (or something like that) and choose "Standard PC" from the list that follows.

I think most of the hardware problems stem from poorly implemented / designed ACPI. It was a nice idea but MS couldn't get it to work properly (hello PnP).

In plain English, use the old working method where devices don't try to share resources aggressively.

First post on this board ....

I have been trying to repair the "corrupted pci.sys file" problem ..... eventually ended up with an access denied statement after trying to copy the pci.sys from the install CD to the windows\system32\drivers directory.

So .... I gave up and decided to reinstall. I pushed L to wipe out the settings etc and now at the screen "Setup examines your disks" it just sits there.

Any suggestions and pointers would greatly be appreciated.

Haasman

"Corrupted PCI.SYS file" is very common to memory errors.

I wouldn't be surprised if your memory is either bad or not compatible with your system board.

A couple days ago i got this message when i booted my PC : Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt : \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM.
I do not have a recovery CD or ASR disk.
I cannot go in safe mode or back to a previous good config, i always get the same error message.
When i boot from the Win XP CD, installing the VIARAID driver on the way since my HDs are in Raid 0, my PC freezes when i get to the Setup screen where i could select to setup XP again or repair it.
I consulted the Microsoft Knowledge Articles about that problem (like #307545, 308041 and 822705, among others) but it doesn't help in my situation since i cannot start the recovery console or anything else for that matter ! Can anyone help ?
Thanks

Blor...

Here's what you need to do... 1st you had the right idea on adding the ViaRaid drivers for the RAID Stripe 0 config, but you missed the SATA drivers.

You need to feed 2 drivers to windows upon install:
1. Fastrack
2. ViaRaid

After that you should be able to get to the Recovery Console by hitting "R" at the 1st screen that you come to after the message Starting Windows.

You will need to do a ChkDsk /R which repairs errors and attempts to recover data. Do this repeatedly until you no longer get any errors.

The directory \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\ is the Location of the Registry Hive Files IF you can't get the system to boot after doing the ChkDsk then the ONLY option is to replace the SYSTEM file with the ORIGINAL file that is stored elsewhere in the Windows Directory. If you have to Replace the Hive File, 1st make a backup of the SYSTEM file by copying it to another location and renaming it to SYSTEM.BAK. Then copy the SYSTEM file from the \Windows\Repair\ folder.

That should get your system back into Operation. However the System settings stored in the Registry WILL be missing.

Hope this helps

Ian