HELP! "windows\system32\config\system missing or corrupt"

[dodgepot]

well, i got the new hard drive in okay and then started with the installation of XP, which was going fine...and then just stopped, with "33 minutes left to complete" on the screen. all noise and action stopped, i left it for ages, nothing. turned it off and tried again - nothing, off and try again, nothing...fuck's sake

anyone got any clues how to get round this^^^, please? i've done a lot of googling about it and found lots of people with similar problems, just wondered if anyone here had first hand knowledge of dealing with it.

 

[stdPikachu]

anyone got any clues how to get round this^^^, please? i've done a lot of googling about it and found lots of people with similar problems, just wondered if anyone here had first hand knowledge of dealing with it.

I usually find that's due to the notoriously finnicky windows installer barfing on some weird piece of hardware (or, more usually, a standard piece of hardware that it just doesn't like for some reason). If I have problems, I usually install with a bare minimum of hardware plugged in, or build myself a slipstreamed XP CD with all of the drivers I need built in.

So yeah, try removing non-essential bits prior to install, unplug any USB or firewire devices, that sort of thing.

 

[Xanadu]

It is if you install lots of software. Even after uninstalling it, misc crud can be left behind. Anyhow, I said "one of the", not "the only" or "the most"

As you say running unprived if possible is another (this is irrespective of OS, eg don't run as root all day)

The other way is to be a little more controlled over the amount of software you install (legit or otherwise).

Installing a base system, then using Ghost is a good variant of what you've suggested.

 

[dodgepot]

I usually find that's due to the notoriously finnicky windows installer barfing on some weird piece of hardware (or, more usually, a standard piece of hardware that it just doesn't like for some reason). If I have problems, I usually install with a bare minimum of hardware plugged in, or build myself a slipstreamed XP CD with all of the drivers I need built in.

So yeah, try removing non-essential bits prior to install, unplug any USB or firewire devices, that sort of thing.

thanks

 

[dodgepot]

hoorah. sorted. we're up and running. only problem now is that my old drive is not being recognised and i need to try and retrieve stuff from it.

 

[boskysquelch]

hoorah. sorted. we're up and running. only problem now is that my old drive is not being recognised and i need to try and retrieve stuff from it.

have you renamed it?

jumpers etc?

 

[dodgepot]

If you have access to another PC at home or at a friends, you can always use a USB->SATA adaptor which effectively attaches your internal drive as an external USB drive and attempt to copy your data off from there.

Assuming the drive isn't totally knackered and it is just the Windows system files that are corrupt/lost this is a nice easy way to get your files back.

PC World or Maplin etc will sell what you need - will be something like this and you will most likely need to get one with a power connector as well.

right - i got one of these cables, and connected the old hard drive up to my (now working with a new drive) PC. it took a while of fiddling around, but eventaully the old drive got recognised as my F drive, but i can't access it. i get an "I/O error" message. i tried with one data receovery program that i downloaded ("back2life") but i get a "F drive not ready" message.

will this easycoverypro program be any use? or file ferret which i've seen mentioned on another thread? or is my old hard drive basically fucked and i'm gonna have to swallow the fact that i've lost all my wife's photos and loads of downloaded music?

ooh - file scavanger, not file ferret... http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=244673&highlight=FILE+FERRET

 

[dodgepot]

a bump to ask if anyone knows how (if?) you can save files from an old hard drive that comes up as "inaccessible - I/O error" when you connect it to your pc.... :-/

i read all the advice on the thread i've linked to in the post above, which was a sort of similar problem. all that linux stuff reads like gobbledeegook to me, and i don't know if it applys to my situation anyway.... please help, the missus has loads of important photos on it, and i have hundreds of girls aloud pictures to save....

 

[boskysquelch]

a bump to ask if anyone knows how (if?) you can save files from an old hard drive that comes up as "inaccessible - I/O error" when you connect it to your pc.... :-/

in Control Panel>Introduce new hardware? ...soz on a Linux box

or you have to go deeeper and get into Device Management.

aaaaaaaaaaad...jumpers/cables....someone better will be along...I have to dash out...soz.

 

[dodgepot]

oh i can install it as new hardware okay and the PC recognises it, it come up as my F drive, (connected to a USB port using one of them cables that swarfega mentioned) but i just can't get into it, as it is dying....but i need to try and salvage stuff from it if possible....