error message windows root system32 missing

[obsidianights]

I have a laptop computer that during the night the screen went black and I woke up to this error message.

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
<windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe. Please re-install a copy of the above file.

I run windows XP but this computer/laptop was originally purchased from a friend so I don't have a  CD for it but.......

I have a desktop that I also run windows XP on. The CD I have for that is windows XP student and teachers home edition. What can I do to get my laptop to work again. Is it the operating system as I suspect?

Your help is appreciated. Thank you.

[Allan]

Boot to the recovery console (boot to your XP CD and choose the first repair option) and run the following two commands (press ENTER after each command):

fixboot c:

fixmbr c:

Then, from the same command prompt run chkdsk /r (it will take a while to complete - you'll know when it's done).