Well, something has happened to my beloved HP laptop. All of the sudden, I got the following black screen message:
"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM"
WHAT THE FUCK? It's now 4:27am CST, and I've been trying everything to fix this fucker for 4.5 solid hours! I'm EXHAUSTED! What the hell went wrong? I can't even get it to repair with the CDRom disk thingy. I've scoured the Microsoft website for some help, tried everything I could find, but if I want their personal help, I'll have to pony up $225. Again, WTF? This laptop is only 3 yrs old, and I've never had a problem with it. Hewlett-Packard sure wasn't any help either. I'm thinking I'm going to have to take it in for something serious, lose all of my stuff, and then get bent over for the service. Last time I looked, I wasn't raking in the big bucks with a tremendous surplus just waiting to be spent on computer repair.
Why does Windows hate me? I swear I didn't do anything to wrong Windows like remove the file or even corrupt it. I'm an upstanding person of ethics and morals..I don't corrupt anything.I have up to date virus software. I don't download willy nilly from the net. I feel so betrayed. I hate being a computer tard. Windows has reduced me to tears. I'm going to call Bill Fucking Gates myself and tell him how he has violated me. And NO people, I did not back up my stuff because I DON'T KNOW HOW. I turn things on and expect them to work. That's how I roll.
Go ahead. Lecture me. I'll cry some more.
We can back stuff up??? Kidding but I'm in the tard boat with you. Cust. service folk DO suck ass don't they?
ReplyDeleteIs it plugged in? Is your keyboard plugged in?
Try starting it in safe mode.
Huh. ??????????
Any non tard friends? Travis and Alan are both smart like that, but if you've got too much pride there's always geek squad.
Good luck :)
Hmmm..
ReplyDeleteThe exact same thing happen to my HP desk top Sassy. I turned on my pc and the same thing with the system 32 thing. My pc is just 3 years old too. You think it's a planned HP thing where they can get more money out of us? Maybe this has happend to some of your other readers too. I think it's worth looking into.
Anyways, I had to get a new hard drive, and I lost everything. I don't know much about computers either. I did have some of my pictures saved, only because I had emailed them to myself to my yahoo email account, and saved them there.
Do you know anybody that is good with computers? That's the way we went. We asked around and came out of it cheaper than going through HP. That would of cost us half the price of what we paid for the damn thing!
PugGeek to the Rescue!
ReplyDeleteYou should be able to boot from the Windows CD that came with the laptop. If properly done, this WILL bypass the error and allow you to launch Windows.
Note: You may have to change your bootup sequence (which is NOT affected by any hard disk issue, as PCs boot from ROM) by holding down a specific key when powering up (F8 or F12 oe DEL ... I forget ...).
Then the FIRST thing you should do is burn your critical files to CD. Back up anything that would cause heartburn if lost.
Then see if you can do a "System Restore" to the most recent date before the problem occured. If that doesn't work, try a "Windows REPAIR".
I realize that these are instructions that you may not fully understand or be familiar with. That's okay. It should be enough to steer you in the right direction. Read your docs to get additional details.
Sorry if this is all obvious stuff that you've already tried. I'm just trying to help.
:-)
Patti-Looks like I'll be bending over for Geek Squad...
ReplyDeletePug-Thank you! I did try all of that, and I can't get anything but the error message. The bad thing is, if the hard drive is lost, I've lost about 25 pages of something I'm writing to publish in an educational journal. Yes, I know I should have learned to back up. Thank you again...
Dyck-As always, your "support" is worthless. ;o)
Stories like this make me glad I connect to the internet through the mind of an 8 year old polynesian child.
ReplyDeleteMe just whacks the damned thing with a hammer or a rubber chicken. Whichever me has closest at the moment.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a registry problem which makes it a pain no matter what.
ReplyDeleteCheck Here
That link explains what should fix it. Don't let them format your drive.
Lets start with the simple question; does a male (who likes porn) have access to your laptop?
ReplyDeleteEveryone-Thank you! I'm going to try to get back to it to fix it soon...when I feel the patience.
ReplyDeleteAnd Redline, if your wife leaves you for any reason, you'll have to marry me. If for nothing else than to keep my computers up and running. ;o)
Not a day goes by that I don't openly say these words: "I hate Bill Gates." I keep thinking it will make me feel better, but somehow it really doesn't. And that's another reason to hate Bill Gates.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! Don't let this get in the way of your blogging, because then we all would be hating some Bill Gates.
Sassy-
ReplyDeleteStop, breathe, take a moment to evealuate the big picutre! There is no need for panic, though I am a true computer tard.... the old man is not! We can get him to fix it in a day! There is no need for shelling out the big buck.... we will just have to wait untill he gets back from the devil sister house in FL!!!!!
Put in the system disk, and go to the repair console. There's instructions on that on the Oracle (google).
ReplyDeletetype: cd C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG
type: rename SYSTEM SYSTEM_BACKUP
Now, somewhere that I don't recall Microsoft has put a folder of handy backup files, for now we'll say it's the pretend C:\BACKUP
type: copy C:\BACKUP\SYSTEM C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
type: exit
Voila!
And, since windows is easy yet lame, and linux is awesome yet difficult, may I suggest Ubuntu? It's a very windows-like Linux operating system. No antivirus required, no copyrights on any software, and an awesome thing called the "Synaptic Package Manager". Also, it comes on something called a Live CD.
With a live cd, you put it in the drive and boot from it. Without installing anything, you get to try a full-fledged (albeit slow) version of Ubuntu, without even touchingyour hard drive. To go back to windows, just restart the computer.