Need some help...Please

[DasReich]

Hi guys, Im in desperate need of some help with a pc issue. At my wits end here not knowing what to do next, except for getting the repair kit out...(large hammer!!!)

 

On booting up my pc this morning I got an error message as follows....

 

\windows\system32\config\system

 

You can attempt to repair this file by starting windows using the original setup cd-rom.

Select 'r' at the first screen.

 

 

Now Ive tried this but the cd wont boot up and goes back to the message above. Ive tried pressing f8 and f10 on boot up but again goes back to the message above. Im stuck with what to do next and really need to get some info off one of the h/drives on that machine. Please guys...on bended knee I request your help...

 

Dave.

Edited August 13, 2006 by DasReich ~ Dave ~

[blutach]

You scanned for visruses? Spyware? Tried a system restore?

 

Regards

[DasReich]

You scanned for visruses? Spyware? Tried a system restore?

 

Regards

 

Hi blutach.

 

As of last night, everything was running fine (as far as I know) I run twice daily spyware scans and did a virus check previous day, so shouldnt be anything there. As of now I cant even boot the pc up, all I get is the message stated above. Im stuck!

 

Dave.

[Shamus_McFartfinger]

Hmm... just out of curiosity, is the RAM timing in your BIOS set to "automatic?"

[DasReich]

Hmm... just out of curiosity, is the RAM timing in your BIOS set to "automatic?"

 

Hi Shamus...

 

Right, now you got me...not sure.

 

Sorry cant be more helpfull, not something Ive really got my head around yet..

 

Dave.

[Shamus_McFartfinger]

Might be something to check. Also, it might be an idea to open up your box and give it a clean if you don't do it regularly. Excessive heat due to exhaust fans being covered in crud will corrupt data readability from the harddrives. I give mine a hit with an air compressor every 3 months or so just to blow the crap out of the fans/cpu/drives etc..

[DasReich]

Might be something to check. Also, it might be an idea to open up your box and give it a clean if you don't do it regularly. Excessive heat due to exhaust fans being covered in crud will corrupt data readability from the harddrives. I give mine a hit with an air compressor every 3 months or so just to blow the crap out of the fans/cpu/drives etc..

 

 

I cleaned it out just before trying to start it this morning, something I do regular, once a month. Ive been looking on the microsoft site about this problem, but thing is all the info they give relies on getting into the bootup page, I cant even get there....

 

Dave.

[chewy]

you may have to go into bios and enable booting to the cd.

[DasReich]

you may have to go into bios and enable booting to the cd.

 

 

Thanks Chewy, right, how do I do that?.....

 

Ive tried all the methods I know of, everything brings me back to the same screen.

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

Dave.

[chewy]

there's a lot of different computers/mobo's, my crystal ball doesn't show

yours

[spinningwheel]

Dave;

 

\windows\system32\config\system

 

You might want to do a Google search on the problem, there are a lot of sites with info and suggestions as to what to try and do.

[DasReich]

Thanks Spinner.

 

Ive done a search around, found lots of topics on this. All seem to be based on being able to access a boot up screen. I cant even get that, Ive managed to sort out problems similar to this before, but for some reason this is just defeating me, I just keep going round in circles ending up at the same message saying 'repair using the windows cd'.

 

I would settle for being able to format the c drive an start from scratch, but I cant get the windows cd to start up, sorry if Im sounding a bit vague here, but Im not a techie!!!

If its the bios causing problems how would I go about sorting it?

The mainboard is a foxcon with nforce chipset if thats any help.

 

Dave.

[dontasciime]

try here http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;en-us;307545

[dontasciime]

when you boot try pressing either of these keys to try and get boot menu

 

Esc

 

F8

 

F11

[cornholio7]

I cleaned it out just before trying to start it this morning, something I do regular, once a month.

have you checked that the cables are all fully seated, maybe you nudged one by accident, just a thought

[DasReich]

Hiya Corny, thanks guys for the pointers.

 

Ive checked the connections etc, all fine. I can get the boot menu up but once I try to install the windows disk all that happens is after the drivers are loaded I then get the ominous blue stop screen.

 

Trying any other method still results in the same message about the missing or corrupt file.

 

Any ideas...apart from getting the faithfull hammer out?

 

Dave.

[Kenadjian]

When you say it won't boot up from cd, is it bypassing the drive? or are you not hitting the "anykey" in time?

 

As per chewy's post, get into BIOS and change the boot order so it looks at the cd drive first.

 

Pending on your machine this could be the DEL key, F1, F2, F10 etc.

 

One other thing you could try, get a DOS boot up disc, then run chkdsk /r at the command prompt.

[DasReich]

Hi Kenadjian.

 

Well, I can get to select the boot up order, but from then on after selecting the cd-rom to boot from, the disc runs, loads drivers etc, the says 'starting windows' after a few seconds then crashes with the blue stop screen.

 

Dave.

[Kenadjian]

Oh shit, you do have some major problems, then you better try the DOS option.

 

Or, if you're happy to format and start again, just choose that from the cd, rather than the repair.

[Kenadjian]

BTW, does it pass the ram check ok at start up?

[chewy]

sounds like a critical hardware component is dying

[DasReich]

Oh bugger, certainly hope not Chewy....

 

Thing is when I get the boot menu and choose cd-rom I dont get any other options, what happens exactly is...

 

'boot from cd

press any key to continue'

 

'checking hardware configuration'

 

Then the cd runs and a whole bunch of drivers are installed then a screen comes up saying 'windows is starting'

After this the pc hangs and goes to the blue stop screen, but on a couple of occasions it said 'checking for previous versions of windows' then hangs again and goes to the blue stop screen.

 

I would be happy to format if only I could get to that stage, I simply dont get any other options appear during this anywhere.

 

Thanks for taking the time to answer here guys

 

Dave.

[cornholio7]

have you tried running memtest?

[spinningwheel]

Dave;

 

One of the sites I read while researching your problem suggested hardware failure such as chewy stated in his last post. Have you tried to remove any/all cards and rebooting to see if the problem is corrected? There was also a suggestion that the power supply may cause the issue. Sorry mate, but that's all I know to do.

 

Spinner

[volvofl10]

Dave

 

it looks like we're getting near to SHOW TIME now wheres that hammer