Need some help with a self-destructed WinXP Home install

[jdport]

My parents brought me their computer to fix when they turned it on one day and it wouldn't boot. When you try to boot it, you get the message "Windows\System32\Config\System missing or corrupt". So, I take it thinking no problem... I can just reinstall their OS and be on my way.

Problem is, the computer is a Compaq with an OEM version of windows XP Home on it... it didn't come with any install CD and instead they included a "recovery partition" on the hard drive. When you are booting up the computer, you are supposed to be able to hit "F10" to do a system recovery from this partition. Unfortunately, when I do this I get a blue screen complaining about what I'm guessing is a part of the registry that is "corrupt or unwriteable". I can't remember the exact message for that right now.

My first thought was that maybe their hard drive was failing, but I put the hard drive in my computer to see if I could copy off some things that they wanted that weren't backed up and had no troubles with the hard drive at all. I was able to run a virus scan on the drive, a scandisk (no errors found), etc with no problems.

So.. i can't boot the system. I can't boot the system recovery. I don't have an OS CD... I could borrow a Windows XP CD home CD from a friend and use their legal key, but that won't work because his Windows XP CD is a store bought version and not a compaq OEM version so their legit key won't work with his CD... am I just screwed or is there some way to fix this situation without having to buy a whole copy of Windows XP?

Thanks for any suggestions

 

[RebateMonger]

Contact Compaq and see what they say.

If you can locate another OEM copy of XP (a neighbor?), you can install from that and do a phone activation with your Compaq COA number. Microsoft will PROBABLY allow you to activate, given the circumstances.

I suggest NEVER buying a new PC without immediately obtaining a restoration CD. These are usually available, either as a purchase option (like Dell), or as a "burn-it-yourself" option (using the recovery partition on the hard drive), or as an after-purchase option from the PC maker. Once out of warranty, it gets tougher to get that CD from the PC maker.

 

[jdport]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Contact Compaq and see what they say.

If you can locate another OEM copy of XP (a neighbor?), you can install from that and do a phone activation with your Compaq COA number. Microsoft will PROBABLY allow you to activate, given the circumstances.

I suggest NEVER buying a new PC without immediately obtaining a restoration CD. These are usually available, either as a purchase option (like Dell), or as a "burn-it-yourself" option (using the recovery partition on the hard drive), or as an after-purchase option from the PC maker. Once out of warranty, it gets tougher to get that CD from the PC maker.

Oh, I absolutely agree about not buying a PC without getting a restoration CD... my parent's didn't understand that distinction though when they bought theirs (and I never thought to ask them if they got one until now).

Question, is it possible to make an OEM OS restore disk from a dell work on another computer? I have Dell OEM XP restore disks here at work, but I was under the impression that I'd be unable to use the Compaq product key with the Dell OEM version. I know OEM keys are different from retail keys... are the keys different for each manufacturer as well?

 

[Smilin]

This topic has been covered in detail numerous times on this board. There are KB articles on Microsoft that cover it as well.

Do a quick forum or MS kb search with that exact error. Should be a very easy find.

The good news is you don't have to use the same version of XP (or even XP at all...try 2000 or 2003!!) to reach recovery console to perform the repair steps.

Do some quick searching and self help on this. Come back and ping us again if you get stuck. I'll be glad to help.

 

[Smilin]

Also, do NOT do any kind of recovery/wipe/format with a OEM supplied CD until you find the articles on how to fix this error. Although no-boots look really bad, this is actually a very recoverable situation.

 

[jdport]

Ahh thanks Smilin.. I'll look that up now. When I see something come up "corrupt" on boot I usually think that means "reload" me.. heh

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: jdport
Ahh thanks Smilin.. I'll look that up now. When I see something come up "corrupt" on boot I usually think that means "reload" me.. heh

If system restore was on you can use a boot disk (BartsPE for example) to boot and recover one of the older registry hives (the error occurs when the registry gets corrupted, usually do to a system hardware failure [power loss is most likely]).

Bill

 

[Taz480]

Originally posted by: jdport

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Contact Compaq and see what they say.

If you can locate another OEM copy of XP (a neighbor?), you can install from that and do a phone activation with your Compaq COA number. Microsoft will PROBABLY allow you to activate, given the circumstances.

I suggest NEVER buying a new PC without immediately obtaining a restoration CD. These are usually available, either as a purchase option (like Dell), or as a "burn-it-yourself" option (using the recovery partition on the hard drive), or as an after-purchase option from the PC maker. Once out of warranty, it gets tougher to get that CD from the PC maker.

Oh, I absolutely agree about not buying a PC without getting a restoration CD... my parent's didn't understand that distinction though when they bought theirs (and I never thought to ask them if they got one until now).

Question, is it possible to make an OEM OS restore disk from a dell work on another computer? I have Dell OEM XP restore disks here at work, but I was under the impression that I'd be unable to use the Compaq product key with the Dell OEM version. I know OEM keys are different from retail keys... are the keys different for each manufacturer as well?

I have a Dell XP Recovery disc as well. The way the manuf. OEM recovery discs work is a bit different than a regular XP install disc. The setup is essentially the same but right after the computer is done copying files needed to the HDD and reboots, at the point where you normally would have the option to enter the product key, that option isn't available. The setup assumes the product key for you but the setup also realizes it is not on the same Dell machine and will want you to activate but deny it. At that point, you can use the phone activation window to hit the button for changing the product key but I believe it will not accept any product key but the one it was distributed with. I'm not sure cuz I don't even remember where I got mine, I've had it forever but I didn't get it from a Dell PC. I think someone gave it to me. Anyway, as I was saying, I'm not sure but I think if you were to use that particular Dell recovery disc to re-install on the actual Dell it came with, it wouldn't even give you the option to activate because it would automatically be activated just the same way it is with the recovery partition way. Thats how my HP was. In fact, lol, I didn't even know what activation was until my HDD crashed destroying my recovery partition because it was always a BIOS-locked activation when I did a re-install. I didn't even have the option in System Tools like I do now. Then when I bought a new copy of Windows, I learned what it was.
But, anyway, that does sound exactly like what happened to me when mine messed up. I couldn't F10 into recovery either. Finally it completely died and thats when I got a new copy.

 

[Smilin]

Yeah, this isn't a recovery CD kind of thing at all. There are about 20 more things that need to go wrong before this turns into a reload.

The short version of the fix:
you gotta get access to the filesystem somehow (recovery console, WinPE etc) and move one of several backup versions of the system hive into place.

 

[jdport]

I've been reading the entry in the microsoft knowledge base http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545 where it describes how to repair the corrupted registry, but it says not to do this if you have an OEM OS install... which I do. They don't offer any alternatives if you DO have an OEM installation. I'm thinking of trying it anyway and risking not being able to get back into the repair console (right now it doesn't even prompt me for a password).

Is this a bad idea? Honestly I don't see any alternative...


Edit: Yep, it was a bad idea... I can't get into the computer at all now. In the recovery console it prompts me for a password that I can't guess, and if I try to boot into windows or safe mode it gives me an LSASS system error saying that it can't update the password. Ugh. Perhaps I can make a bootable linux CD and go in and undo my changes.

 

[jdport]

I managed to undo my fix by putting the hard drive in another windows xp machine and copying the original files back into place... I don't know how I'm going to get around this issue though :\

Working the google button now trying to find a work around

 

[jdport]

Does anybody know of any kind of free program I could use to repair the corrupted registry files? If I could copy them onto another computer and run a repair on them and then copy them back , maybe it would solve my problem. It seems that the only other option is going to be a reinstall... if I can get CD's to do the reinstall.

 

[69matrix69]

i just had this issue happen with a laptop. i called the suppot and had to pay them 20 dollars plus 8 something shipping for their recovery cds. i think thats the only way you are going to fix your issue. call compaq and order the cds.

 

[Smilin]

zip and send your system hive to me. I'll pm you my address.


I can repair (if possible) and send back to you. It's an internal Microsoft tool or I would just send it to ya. Turnaround is going to be Monday though

 

[jdport]

Thanks a lot Smilin, and thanks for the information matrix... I may call them and see if they will ship me CD's anyway just so they have them for the future. Of course if Smilin is able to fix my problem, I can probably create restore CD's off of their 'restore partition'.

 

[jdport]

Smilin, the repaired registry hive files did the trick, thanks a million!

Any idea why microsoft doesn't include the tool you used to repair the reg files (or maybe a "lite" version thereof) on the OS CD's? It seems like it would be a very useful tool for microsoft customers to have access to. Or perhaps they think it requires a level of expertise that most people don't have and they are afraid people would do more harm than good with it?

At any rate thanks a lot for the help. I'm going to make a save state on their computer now so that they will have one as of this date, and also burn restore CD's.