Need PC Help ASAP - missing/corrupt file

[cueball]

(i am typing this on a not-very well protected-old laptop)

My wife was online today and all of a sudden the computer did a few things and rebooted on its own. We now get the following message:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \windows\system32\config\system

you can attempt to repair this file by starting windows setup using the original setup cd-ro select 'r' at the first screen to start repair"

now the issue is that this is a custom built PC and they put windows xp pro on it. i dont have a disc. i cannot get past this message to try anything.

am i hosed? Norton virusscan ran yesterday without any issues and it was up to date.

my antivirus is out of date here (old laptop) and i only want to log on to see what i can do (if anything).

i will check back later.. thanks in advance.

[TJFireman99]

If you have any type of boot disk, boot from it and trying running chkdsk and see if it'll repair that part of the hard drive. (if its a problem).

There is another way that you can replace that file but its really involved and doesn't work all of the time (or very long)

[brkitnowfixit]

get the xp pro disk from the guy that built it and fix yours

[Jaboobie]

I see Micro$oft has a fix for corrupted registries. It's a 4 part 30 some step fix but if you're desperate you may want to give it a try.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

[CMSurfer]

Sounds like the registry is corrupt.

You really can't do anything without an XP CD.

The link above should be able to get it fixed, but IMO just formatting the machine would be the best.

[cueball]

well, i took it to the place that built it. they tried to repair it, but ended up having to reformat and reload the pc. not a big deal for me, as i had backed up any data. he was able to back it up as well, but i dont really need it.