WinXP Boot Error

[Vchat20]

I am just now getting this error when I boot up. I had to restart due to my soundcard cutting out on me. it oesnt even go to the load screen for XP, it just says something about a missing file in C:\WINNT\system I dont know whether its a file in the WINNT directory thats missing or it has something to do with the system folder. anyone know? ill try to get more details later.

thank god for one thing though: knoppix


btw, I noticed there is an i386 folder sitting on my hd. is there a way I can simply burn the contents of that to a cd or something similar to make a winxp disc? cuz we are currently renting this computer so im guessing that is why we dont have an XP disc in our possession yet.

 

[Trotterwatch]

Can you start WinXP in safe mode? Just hold down shift when you starting it up. Else press F8 *I think* as it is booting for the menu, and choose start last known good configuration.

The system file in the Windows folder shouldn't really cause too many probs due to it being missing... should it?

 

[Vchat20]

I tryed in safe mode and it did the same thing. I just did plain safe mode. should I try a different one?

 

[Trotterwatch]

It wouldn't hurt Try running it from last known working config, see if that works.

 

[Vchat20]

ok. ill try. but noticed one thing that might be a sign. I checked the main WINNT folder and the only file I could find named system is system.ini, but when I looked in the C:\i386\ folder, there are 2 other fles along with system.in_ (system.ini essentially). they are system.dr_ and system.mo_ . would that be a sign?

 

[Vchat20]

scratch that. I tried doing last known good configuration and it didnt work. but the file that was missing, the path is different. it is instead located in \winnt\system32\config\system . ill look there and see if anything is wrong.

 

[Trotterwatch]

I don't personally have those files, but they may well be fine for your particular install. I would do as I have said first (from last known good backup). That should fix it, providing you didn't turn System Restore off.

Edit// Posted this as you posted your other one

 

[Vchat20]

I tried to do it fro last known good config and it didnt work. how would I do a system restore though?

 

[Trotterwatch]

Wait a sec, and I may have a fix for you.

I was going to create a .reg file for you, but it's probably safer for you to visit this link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545

And read about the error yourself,

Not sure how you are going to get to the recovery console though without the XP CD. Though you can probably do the recovery in Knoppix providing you are not NTFS formatted....

 

[Vchat20]

crap. XP drive is NTFS.

 

[Vchat20]

so, from the looks of it, I should copy the files system, software, sam, security, and default to.bak files, delete the originals. then go to C:\System Volume Information\_restore.......\RP*\Snapshot\ and copy the system, default, security, sam, and software files to C:\winnt\tmp\. then take those new files in C:\winnt\tmp\ to just plain system, security, default, software, and sam . then copy those back over to c:\winnt\system32\config\ and then it should work?

 

[Trotterwatch]

If the article says it should

 

[Vchat20]

crap. wont let me. apparently the security settings in ntfs prohibit this. any other fix I can utilize here?

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

The problem you are having looks like possibly buggy chipset drivers,
because you said that the sound cutted out then after you rebooted the PC, you got the error message stating that a file is missing or corrupted and Windows XP fails to complete booting. It's possible that the PCI bus frequency running out of spec, (ONLY APPLIES TO OVERCLOCKING THE FSB) you will get the exact symptoms you are talking about.

 

[Vchat20]

ok heres exactly what happened. I was in the middle of surfing the net listening to music on winamp 5.0. after I started losing stuff to do, I deicded to stop listening to music and go play a game of Gunbound. and when the logo for the game shows up, it usually starts playing music. it didnt. so I exited out and checked the mixer to see if it was muted. went to run and tried running sndvol32 and it said there were no audio devices installed. I opened up the audio control panel and the audio panel only had the voice modem listed and no soundcard. went to devices, SoundMAX digitl audio was listed. same for the system control panel. it listed it and said it was working properly. decided to restart. that is when this started. keep in mind this is a default 2GHZ celeron system. no overclocks.

im hoping that from reading the last post there would be an easy way to fix this without having to resort to calling the place where were renting this thing to get the stupid xp cd.

 

[Vchat20]

btw, if anyone has Windows XP home and can provide me with an ISO of their cd, please Pm me. id be very grateful. that would fix this problem right now most likely.

 

[joel_029]

Well, an ISO isn't going to get you anywhere without a CD-KEY, and if you're going full out piracy (downloading Key-Gen, etc.) Then I would suggest going with XP Pro. It would be a lot more worth your time.

 

[Vchat20]

the only reason im looking for an ISO is to burn it to a cd and use it to actually get a chance at resoring this thing. cuz I can do what trooterwatch suggested in the link above, but need access to the recovery console (on winXP cd) so I can make changes to the files. I tried doing the changes from knoppix (which has NTFS support) and it said access was denied.

 

[Vchat20]

#1 I cant even get into XP right now. #2, I have always kept my drivers up to date and check windows update daily.

 

[Vchat20]

ok. while I still got this error I got a nice backup plan made. I took the old 3GB drive from my old computer and installed a copy of Windows 2000 on it. im in the middle of updating it now with drivers and patches. basically ill use this as a temporary fix everytime windows xp acts up like it did this time. all I have to do is swap out drives.

while this is not a total fix, this gives me the ability to access the programs im accustomed to that are windows only plus be able to find a solution for anything that windows xp decides to throw at me.

P.S. btw, does win2k support NTFS? i thought it did but im not sure. cuz I have a huge 60GB drive seperate from the xp drive with all my music on it, but its NTFS.