My original problem was after booting the following error message appeared:
Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
I searched the error message and found an article on Microsoft's Knowledge base (
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545) about how to fix a corrupted registry. I went through each step and achieved a point where I am able to logon to Widows and the majority of my settings seem to be correct.
The current problem is that the computer is now running slower than slow. Boot time is very slow. When I start IE it shows in the task manager but the actual window does not open for >2 Min. Other symptoms are funky things with the USB ports. I've got a wireless keyboard and mouse and they both work perfectly. When I plug in my USB wireless network adapter or USB external hard drive the computer again takes >3 min. to recognize they are even there and then attempts to install software (something I've never had to do before). Certain applications open with no problem (MS-Word, Ad-Aware, Minesweeper). Applications that are running do not show as running in the taskbar (but they do show as running in task manager).
There is no error message anywhere so I am unsure where to go next. The only other thing I've tried is running an (admittedly outdated) Ad-Aware full scan from safe mode.
After what I thought was a moment of clarity, I might have made the problem a little worse. While looking over some of my files, I saw that I backed up my registry about a year before I had this problem. Thinking I was smart, I exported my current registry, and attempted to import this backup. I got an error:
"Cannot Import C:\......\example.reg: Not all data was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the system or other processes:"
So after I reboot with my backed up registry (which I thought was working), XP still takes forever to boot. This time when I boot I get two choices for logon: Administrator (which I don't know the password to, and my standard user). I log into my standard user account and get only a command prompt. Explorer DOES NOT start until I run explorer from the command prompt. Once this is done I am basically back to where I was before (IE taking forever to load, most other programs working fine, nothing showing on the taskbar when something is up and running, etc.). The main difference is that hardware that interfaces using USB (i.e. wireless network adapter and external hard drive) is seen by the computer (on the taskbar I get the option to "Safely remove X"), but they are not really seen by the computer. The external hard drive is not seen in My Computer and the wireless network adapter does not show up in network connections.
Whew! That was a lot. Any help would be appreciated, I am basically at a loss as to where to go next. Some more details about my computer: XP Pro SP2 (I do not have the original disk). Thanks for whatever information you can give me.
