Xp Problem Appreciate Any Help

[Dean_Morris]

when i turn on my pc i get the following

 

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 set-up cd-rom. select r a the first screen to start repair

 

now i can get to the repair screen however i only get an ms dos like command prompt screen and i'm not sure where to go from here.

 

Also as a side note does anyone know if my documents will be safe if it can be repaired.

 

What happened was one day last week i turned in my computer and windows did not start so i rebooted it and it offered me the option to boot with the last known good configuration- the pc was working lovely, i shut it down that night but when i turned it on the next morning i got the above message ever since.

[danzil]

ok it sounds like you have booted into recovery console.

reboot from the cd,when it asks to boot fto the recovery console dont,keep going to where it shows the partitions of your hard drive,it is in there where the repair options is used..recovery console can be used but it is slightly mopre difficult to replace those type of files......continue to where i stated and run the repair install from there.it is just after the xp cd checks for previous operating system versions.

letme know if i can help anymore

regards

danzil