My Computer will not start.. I have an error message on the screen... Help I'm using Windows XP and have no start-up disks..

Modern Operating Systems such as Windows 2000 and Windows XP present some interesting challenges to repair when the Computer is crippled to such a degree that it will not start-up beyond the initial few seconds when loading the critical boot-up files.

In the past the normal practise was to use a special diskette called a "Boot" Diskette which had sufficient files on it to load basic start files and the CD ROM drivers and allow the user to look at the files on the Hard Drive.. This is not the case with Windows XP or 2000 for a number of reasons not the least being that by default the file system is NTFS rather than FAT32. With an ordinary "Boot" diskette the Hard Drive would be invisible if formatted as NTFS unless you follow this Microsoft KB305595 procedure to produce a special diskette just to examine and repair the boot files of Windows XP.

Additionally many more files than can fit onto a diskette are necessary to start these operating systems.. A total of 6 diskettes are necessary however even when you have started the Computer with these there is often little the user can to to repair the problems.

The Microsoft (KB315341) method of attempting a repair to a dead Computer is to use the Windows XP CD ROM and boot the Computer from it. Note the BIOS must be set to allow the Computer to boot-up from the CD ROM Drive as the first device (before the Hard Drive). When the Computer has loaded all the files necessary the user is presented with a menu which basically offers options to use the recovery console, Install a fresh copy of Windows or do a repair installation. These options are rather limiting and unless care is taken with the option selection it is possible to delete the "Documents & Settings" folder thereby deleting ALL the users data!

I use a special start-up CD which is configured by downloading software from the BartPE website.. This CD when configured uses parts of my own legal copy of Windows XP and an assortment of Plugins to control many repair programs. It is the most valuable tool in my assortment of repair options.

My plugins number over 60 individual types (there are over 300 plugins available all over the Internet) and allow me to do a system restore, scan for viruses, add and delete files, scan for Spyware, recover deleted files, reset passwords and much much more....

All of this without reading OR writing any files to the Hard Drive to operate the programs... thereby stopping any Viruses, Trojans or Spyware from taking over the Operating System and preventing satisfactory diagnosis of system problems.The whole BartPE system runs direct from the CD ROM and core components of Windows XP are either read direct from the CD ROM or loaded into RAM ..

I have used this tool on many jobs with XP and also Windows 98SE also but just recently I was called to a job where a Windows 2000 Laptop was not able to start-up past the initial boot-up screen.

All the regular options failed including booting direct from the clients Windows 2000 CD which refused to recognise any Windows 2000 installation present of the Hard Drive. With my BartPE Diagnostic CD I was able to boot up the Laptop and with one of the file managers examine the files on the Hard Drive. The start-up failure message was that C:\windows\system32\config\system was missing or corrupt.

This file (system) is one of five registry 'Hives' and therefore one of the most critical files on the Hard Drive. An examination of the system32 folder showed two copies of this registry file and renaming the existing one and substituting a slightly older version and subsequently restarting the laptop did not effect any change.

As there is no 'system restore' feature available in Windows 2000 this option was not available to me to wind back in time to before this fault developed.. My BartPE Diagnostic CD allows me to access the restore function in Windows XP even when the Computer will not boot up and is an invaluable tool to quickly revert to a former place in time..

There was however one good option left which had some chance of delivering a result.

The system hive is primarily concerned with basic operating info like what happens at start-up, what device drivers are loaded, what services are in use, etc.  It seemed like a good candidate for trying the first saved copy of this hive even though this was created some years ago when the Laptop was first loaded with Windows 2000. Maybe not much had changed within this area of the Laptop unlike say the software hive.

I copied the original version of the system hive from the C:\windows\system32\repair folder to the correct location of C:\windows\system32\config folder and restarted the laptop. The start-up proceeded past the initial boot up where the error  message had been appearing and after a longer than normal boot up time (whilst various drivers and settings were configured) the windows desktop appeared.. Some more loading and configuring continued however at the end of this everything was back as normal.

Subsequent start-ups of the Laptop were as speedy as normal.

 Why had it happened?. The explanation is always easy to see after the fault is fixed. There was one error message when windows desktop was loading and that was that the USB Hub was not powered and the current limit had been reached without power.. Seems the client had got this message the last two or three times the laptop was started AND the USB mouse attached to the hub also would not work! The client had to force the Laptop off (by holding down the mains main on switch on the side of the laptop for 4 seconds). This results in a power off instantly and possible corruption of files loaded into memory at the time.... Certainly the system hive!

Why was the client getting this message and the USB mouse not working?..
Before a recent holiday all the leads for various Computers and external equipment had been unplugged and on return the power pack for the powered USB hub had not been connected properly to the power point!

A success, a happy client, a lesson learnt.