XPS P3, rebooting, System32 disappearing, unmountable boot volume, 7A BSODs

[JordanGBR]

Ok, through the past 5 or so days i've been having trouble with my computer, it started with an update to SP3 from SP2 to fix a bug with a game (another story).

After I did this, I got an unmountable boot volume crash, to check if my HDD was dead I installed linux, everything was working fine, I then installed XP SP3 again from disc, it works fine for the first day, then the 2nd day the PC suddenly becomes very sluggish and eventually I need to restart it.

The first time I restarted I got a 7A BSOD and couldn't get back into the PC. So, I formatted and reinstalled again, then again it became sluggish and I eventually restarted, this time though I got an error saying System32/System is missing or corrupt.

I'm now going to try and repair it through the recovery console and see what happens.

I can't get the minidumps since I've formatted the computer since I couldn't get back into it.



EDIT: Ok, the 2nd line of help from MS to recover the registry doesn't work, I'm meant to type "copy c:\windows\system32\config\system ", I get the response, "could not copy", great.

Does anybody know what could cause these errors/what I could do to solve them?

 

[Route44]

It could very well be the harddrive itself particularly by the fact that you have reformatted and thus the OS file system shouldn't be corrupt.

Can you boot into Normal at all?

 

[JordanGBR]

No. can't even get windows loading screen, though, if I was to reinstall, i'm sure it would work again for a couple of days.

 

[Route44]

If you can do so then I suggest getting the free harddrive diagnostic utility from your harddrive manufacture's website.

Also, how are your cables? Are you able to switch them out?