Windows XP won't repair

[Vegeta]

Okay so i built my PC about a year ago, then a about 5 months ago (key word about) i got the windows/system32 corrupt or whatever. And my xp disc wasnt readable, so about 3-4 months later i finally bought one. Now i go to run the repair, it gets to the "Welcome to windows press enter to continue" so i press enter, and it says "please wait...." thats it. Nothing else. It stays there, i've left in running for about 10 hours still nothing. I'm completely baffled, any help would be very much appreciated.

[The Wise Monkey]

Does it go through the process of the text mode setup at all (the blue screens with white writing)?

[Vegeta]

Yes but it will only make it up to the "Press enter to install windows" then once i press enter it wont go any further.

[The Wise Monkey]

What happens when you try to start XP normally i.e. boot from the hard drive?

[Vegeta]

I get a black screen and it says " Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt windows/system32/config/system. You can attempt to repair this problem by starting the Windows setup from the original CD rom.

[The Wise Monkey]

OK, this is referencing a registry hive that has become corrupted.

To fix this, follow these steps from Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

As for why you can't run a repair, I'm not really sure. It could be because you are trying to repair using a different OS to the original, but this shouldn't be a problem...

Anyhoo, follow the steps outlined above and you should be OK.

[Vegeta]

It wont even let me access recovery console either. It says examining disk configuration and wont make it past that. I don't know why but it wont go any further then the "Welcome to windows" blue screen. I can't even get to the option to re write the HDD. The previous OS was Windows XP home OEM and im trying to rewrite or repair it with Windows XP Pro. I don't know if that has to do with anything.

[The Wise Monkey]

Ah, well that is probably the reason - they are essentially two different Operating Systems... xD

You could try putting the hard drive in a different computer and see if you can access it this way - do you have a spare computer you can try?

If you just want to try reformating the hard drive and doing a clean install, try downloading gparted and running it from a CD to format the drive:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

If you want to try and recover some of the data on it first, then the System Rescue CD is also good:

http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

[Vegeta]

Well i cant put my harddrive in the PC im using cause this PC's drive isnt SATA. But I did as you said, downloaded GParted, completely reformatted the hard drive, and i still get stuck on "please wait.." i cant access any other parts of the windows disc either? When i select the option of the new partion should i make it nfts or leave it unformatted? Or should I just buy another harddrive?

[The Wise Monkey]

Hmm, now I'm not so sure if it is the hard drive... :/

It could be a faulty CD - try copying the XP CD and using the copy. Also, you could try and "obtain" a copy of XP and just use your own license key.

Format the drive as NTFS, as this is what XP will do anyway.

You might want to get a cheap old drive from ebay and see if that works in your PC. If it does, you know that it is a problem with the original hard drive and you can then just buy a new one.