WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

[criticbru]

I have an eMachine T3265 with a 3200+ AMD Athlon Processor.
I am trying to get my computer to boot but it will not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
It will not allow me to start the computer in safe mode. When I try this, it continually tries to boot every few minutes. The computer will open the BIOS and CMOS setup. I have an operating system disc, but the computer will not open it when i put the disc in the drive. How can I remedy this situation?

Thanks!!!
Criticbru

[Allan]

Change the boot order in bios and put the cd at the top of the list. Then:

Boot to the XP CD and select R (Recovery Console)

At the command prompt type:

ren c:\windows\system32\config\system system.old
copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config

Reboot

[criticbru]

Allan,
I have the CDROM as the first boot device. The computer will not allow me to get to any command prompt.

[Allan]

You need to be more specific. Exactly what happens?

[criticbru]

When the computer tries to boot, it maintains a black screen for a few minutes. Eventually there will be a progress bar of white bars along the bottom. At that point it will say there is a file missing or corrupt. It does this with the disc in and the disc out. Nothing changes when the disc is put in.

[Allan]

Then you are not booting to the CD. Either the cd drive is not first in the boot order or the cd drive is not working or the cd is not an original, bootable XP CD. There are no other possibilities.

[criticbru]

The drive is first in the boot order. I am getting a disc read error every once in a while. The disc is an original. Any way to test the drive at this point without the use of a command prompt because the light will come on when the disc is inserted and then goes off again? Any quick fix to that?

[Allan]

You can try a different bootable disc to see if that works, but without getting into the system I'm not sure how to test the drive. And I apologize, in my post above I should have said "the disc is bad or is not an original, bootable XP CD". In other words, either the cd or the cd drive is bad.