Windows 2000 Freezes at Boot [Solved]

[KristopherWindsor]

I had my Windows 2000 laptop on standby, and turned it back on. It was running fine, except the LCD was off. I unplugged the laptop, and then restarted it. The computer now freezes when I try to start it. You can see in the picture that it freezes before I can press [F8] to select Safe Mode.
I can start the Recovery Console via the Win 2K setup CD, and can see all of my files, so I think there is a way to fix the OS without losing data, but I do not have an Emergency Repair Disk, and setup (from the Win 2000 CD) cannot find Windows to repair it.
Based on where Windows freezes, what is the problem? Can I fix Windows by replacing a certain file?

Edit: I booted FreeDos, replaced C:\WINNT\System32\config\system with system.alt, and it booted fine.

[Fed]

Test your hard drive.

[KristopherWindsor]

I ran chkdsk from the Recovery Console, and it said it fixed "one or more errors." But the laptop still won't start right.  :-/

[GX1_Man]

Free hard drive diagnostics are available from the appropriate drive maker's site. If unsure, use SeaTools from www.seagate.com

[KristopherWindsor]

Different Problem Now

I found that the corrupted file is C:\WINNT\System32\config\system. So I replaced that file with one that was in WINNT\recovery from another computer. Now Win 2K gives a BSoD when loading, and the Recovery Console wants an administrator's password!!! How can I find the password, since I have tried all mine and they don't work? Are the passwords stored in that system file?

[ale52]

Usually the default for the admin password is blank.  Have you tried not using a password?

Alan <><  

[KristopherWindsor]

I tried that, but it doesn't work. Is the password stored in the system file? If I uploaded that, could someone find out what the password is?

[KristopherWindsor]

Nevermind; I was able to boot a FreeDOS floppy and use that to access the hard drive instead of the Recovery Console.