Corrupt System File...

[vanillapod]

Hi I shutdown last night and now windows XP pro won't start, something about a system file being corrupt? and needing to run the setup CD and select option r to sort it out.

Anyone know how to get around this?

 

[JimmyJohns]

I don't think there is a way around that, the better question is why did the file become corrupt? Anyhow you can play 20 questions with that and still may never know why. Which file is it, do you know? This would help?

 

[wolluf]

Well you could do a repair reinstall (which is what it sounds like its suggesting - boot from winxp install CD, choose new install & it will find exisiting installation and ask if ypu want to repair. Type r to agree and it basically goes through install process BUT it keeps all your data, software & settings). But as JimmyJohns says, good idea to find out what caused it (or it may just keep happening).

Corrupt system file messages are often caused by hardware problems (ie, hardware component going/gone bad).

Apart from the actual file, have you any other useful info (eg, is this the first problem you've had with this machine, have you added/removed hardware/software recently, have you had a virus recently)

 

[linney]

An easy to follow recovery console description when unable to start computer due to corrupt registry.

http://www.mediaworkstation.com/htm/homeset1.htm

Click on Tutorial then the Charlie White article on XP crash.
This is a laymans version of Q307545 in simple language.


How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (Q315341)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q315/3/41.asp

Error Message: Windows 2000 Could Not Start Because the Following File Is Missing or Corrupt: \Winnt\System32\Config\System

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;319011&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[vanillapod]

Yeah i just did the recovery console thing and it worked a treat got my old settings back as well.

I downloaded the startup disks from the microsoft

http://www then

ran them, copied the system, default, SAM etc files to backup then copied the same files from the c:\windows\repair folder to my c:\windows\system32\config folder and it it works fine....

cheers for the responses.

One more question my C drive is v.full is there anyway I can make it over 2gig???

Cheers

 

[wolluf]

You mean you've got a 2GB (FAT16?) partition on a drive that's bigger than 2GB? You'll need something like Partition Magic (and you'll need to use FAT32 or NTFS filestore).

 

[vanillapod]

My C drive is 2016mb (FAT32) and partition magic reckons i can't make it any bigger which is a pain. I've got loads of free (unallocated space) that I made from making other partitions on the same drive smaller but can't allocate / resize drive c to make it any bigger....

 

[wolluf]

What I meant was you'll need to convert it to FAT32 or NTFS - then you can make it bigger. FAT16 only supports maximum 2GB partitions normally.