I turned my computer off for the weekend and then when I tried to turn it back on, it told me that the registry files are missing or corrupt. I went into Windows Recovery Console and tried to copy and rename the registry files, but was told that the computer could not find these files to copy. Any ideas of some way I can restore my computer? I would prefer not to have to wipe the hard drive and start from scratch. I also can't even get to safe mode, so I cannot download anything from the Internet either. Thanks, Sarah

first go back into recovery console and run chkdsk /p to check the disk for corruption. reboot and see if you can get in Otherwise boot your xp cd and start the install process. On the first choice of repair do so. This will restore the reg files from the repair folder. If this doesn't work go past this repair option until you get to new install or repair existing install. Choose repair install. This should refresh the system files while leaving your programs/data intact. This can be the result of not defragging your drive or a crash that corrupted the master file table.