Error message (Windows) after failed OC

[ncheran]

Tried OCing Athlon 64 3000+ (socket 754(?)) w/ my AOpen AK86-L. Went too high and wouldn?t reboot into Windows. Went back down to normal Ghz and voltages. Rebooted and got this: ?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 original setup CD Rom; select ?r? at first screen to start repair.?

Cleared CMOS. Got out my Windows XP Pro Upgrade Academic CD to insert and repair, but it?s cracked, right. Newegg won?t replace it, nor will Microsoft.

My question: is there anything else I can do before I have to insert original Windows 98 CD and thereby reformat my HD (and losing all of my stuff)?

Thanks in advance.

AOpen AK86-L 754 VIA K8T800 ATX AMD Motherboard
CORSAIR XMS 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)
SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800PRO 128 R Radeon 9800PRO 128MB
Microsoft Microsoft Windows XP Pro Upgrade Version Academic Version

 

[RussianSensation]

You don't have to reformat the hard drive. You can just reinstall windows through the repair option. You boot as you would normally install windows but instead of reformatting the hard drive you just choose to install windows.

Your data should still be there just the desktop and so forth will be fresh like from start.

I am sure there is another method but this should work.