XP booting not / Computer Science / Forums

Forums

4hv.org :: Forums :: Computer Science

« Previous topic | Next topic »

XP booting not

Move Thread

LAN_403

Dr. Slack

Wed Mar 19 2008, 08:17PM

Registered Member #72 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:29AM
Location: UK St. Albans
Posts: 1659

I get a problem trying to boot from c:, it says "windows\system32\config\system is missing or corrupt, try 'r' to repair when you start it from a boot disk"

I understand the XP CD is bootable, a quick browse seems to confirm that, yet when I change the bios settings to boot order cd/c/a, I get asked to press any key to boot from CD, then I receive exactly the same file message.

The CD active light flashes, so I suspect it's going to the CD. If the IDE controller was down, and it couldn't read either the CD or the disk, would I get that identical message, or would a broken IDE result in a different message.

Does the BIOS know the win\sys32\config\system path, or has that been retrieved from disk? In other words, given that error message, precisely how much of the hardware is working?

It's an old P3, so I would not be too unhappy to bin it saving the disks, but it would be handy to get it working again tonight. My XP installation disk is OEM, bought with a new HD as the "sufficient hardware", do MS leave the bootable stuff off the OEM versions, on the basis that dealers have boot disks? Can anyone confirm or refute that?

I've found several sites giving instructions on how to burn a bootable XP CD, including slipstreaming SP1/2 into it, but don't fancy that rigmarole just yet, especially if something deeper is wrong.

Bjørn

Wed Mar 19 2008, 10:02PM

Registered Member #27 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058

The BIOS would not know that path so it must have booted before you can get that message. My old laptop booted from the OEM CD after it overheated and wrecked the file system.

If you have a hardware problem then error messages can be completely wrong and illogical so it is hard to say exactly what is going on. I once had a broken file system and the Samsung diagnosis program said I had to send the drive in for a replacement. By random luck I replaced the IDE cable and the drive still works perfectly, it was the cable that was faulty.

Dave Marshall

Wed Mar 19 2008, 11:47PM

Registered Member #16 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 02:22PM
Location: New Wilmington, PA
Posts: 554

I agree with BjÃ¸rn here. Assuming that the error message is accurate, it sounds like a file system error of one sort or another, possibly caused just by NTFS' wonderful propensity to spontaneously combust, or possibly something more sinister like a virus.

The most typical scenario for bad hardware somewhere on the IDE bus would be a "Boot Device Not Found" or similar error message on startup, usually just after the BIOS screen, long before windows starts up. The fact that it gets as far as it does would lead me towards suspecting software first and foremost. It just sounds to me like your CD isn't booting for whatever reason.

As an experiment, try disconnecting the hard drive completely and attempt to boot from the CD. If that works, you know you've just got a stuffed BIOS setting or jumper setting somewhere that should be easy to fix.

Incidentally, you can probably rescue your data with a linux LiveCD and a USB thumb drive assuming it isn't hardware related. Just be sure to take precautions in case it was a virus that caused the problem. Don't want to go infecting other computers by accident.

Dave

Ken M.

Thu Mar 20 2008, 01:30AM

Registered Member #618 Joined: Sat Mar 31 2007, 04:15AM
Location: Us-Great Lakes
Posts: 628

For the most part I'd go with Bjorns advice, as far as teh IDE issue if your HDD and CD drive are indeed both on the same Ide then neither would transfer data to the mobo, however if your CD drive is on the secondary IDE line and the HDD IDE is on the primary which it should be.

If you fidgetted around in the case you might have losened the power cord to the HDD, cause my old HDD had that issue where there was a loose connection between the unit and one of the cables always resulting in the can not find OS.

Umm....I think my XP disc is an OEM and i have reformatted the system numerous times with no problem.

Steve Conner

Thu Mar 20 2008, 12:48PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Hi all

Every XP CD I've ever tried has been bootable, but I think they do something weird. When you use the CD to install XP on a fresh hard drive, the CD just boots. Once XP has been installed to the hard drive, then that "Press any key to boot from CD..." message starts to appear, even if you've set the BIOS to boot from CD before hard disk.

Of course, it does this because the machine needs to reboot itself from the hard drive halfway through an XP install, and MS wanted it to do this without taking the install CD out of the drive, so you can do unattended installs.

So I think the XP CD's own bootloader must check your hard drive for a Windows installation, and display that message. If the hard drive is really messed up it could crash while trying.

Dr. Slack

Fri Mar 21 2008, 08:14PM

Registered Member #72 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:29AM
Location: UK St. Albans
Posts: 1659

Thanks all. Yes, the CD was bootable, but something strange was going on with the keyboard in the BIOS, so it saw me hit a key and went to boot, but also didn't see it as a key and booted from HD. When I pulled out the HDs, it booted from CD. I put the boot drive in another machine and scanned it with AntiVir, and it picked up 8 viruses that AVG had missed, one in the boot sector. Having reassambled the machine after aggressively quarantining all the viruses, it had forgotten about its ethernet and sound card, and some of the USB ports, but at least my kids still have access to their un-backed-up school coursework (how many times have I told them ... ?)

Thanks also for not saying "ah, but if you were using Linux ...", which was all I got at work!

I think I'll replace the whole machine with an "Easter sale special" bundle, then pull the old one apart, clean it, reinstall XP, then dual boot some flavour of Linux to play with. Any suggestions as to which flavour, I want web browsing, media playback and editting, and code development.

Moderator(s): Chris Russell, Noelle, Alex, Tesladownunder, Dave Marshall, Dave Billington, Bjørn, Steve Conner, Wolfram, Kizmo, Mads Barnkob