Troubleshooting a Corrupted System on a 2-Year-Old Laptop

[kcjodih]

Anyone know what it means (besides lots of horrible things) when I turn on my laptop which is only 2 years old and get a black screen and message that says 'Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \Windows\System32\Config\System." It then says "You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-Rom. Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair."

If I then select 'r' it goes to the logo of my computer with a small 'Press F2 to enter Setup' on the bottom and if I don't it goes to a black screen and then back to the first message all over again. If I do press F2 it ends up in some BIOS Setup Utility which looks wayyyy too scary and freaks me out so I get the heck out of there speedy quick!

Am I out of luck and have I lost everything?

What would cause this? A virus?

HELP!!! I can't see or reach my computer guy until Monday morning and I'm sooo missing my laptop and concerned I'm going to lose everything over there. Alot is backed up but not all....:cry::cry:

 

[Sheila]

It's better to play it safe than to be sorry. My advice is to be patient and let the computer tech figure it out. Anything can be recovered until it's written over on the hard drive. So if you are afraid of loosing data, let the expert do the recovery. That way you have the best possible chance of having everything retrieved and not loosing any (or all) of it.

 

[Admin Greg]

It sounds like you are experiencing a problem with your computer's operating system. The error message indicates that a critical file needed for Windows to start up is missing or damaged. This could be caused by a number of things, including a virus, hardware failure, or a software issue. It's hard to say for sure without more information.Your best bet is to try following the instructions given in the error message and use your original Windows setup CD to attempt a repair. If that doesn't work, you may need to seek help from a professional computer technician. In the meantime, it's important to try and remain calm and not panic. Losing everything on your computer is a worst-case scenario, so try not to worry until you have more information.If you do end up losing some data, it's always a good idea to regularly back up your important files to avoid this kind of situation in the future. Hopefully, you will be able to get your laptop up and running again soon. Hang in there!