Here's a doozy....or so I think. My son's father gave him a laptop which, after about a month, upon startup, he was unable to get on his computer. The error message is stated in the subject box above. His father didn't give him the Windows XP Professional CD and we only have the Windows XP Home upgrade edition CD. I tried to use the Home upgrade edition to maybe use the repair part of the disk, but it asked me for a previous disk that was a full install. The only full installation CD we have is Windows 98. I'm trying not to lose any of his programs on the computer and am hoping you can help me in figuring out how to fix his computer without having to reinstall Windows XP (which is a much older version than what's on the computer) so that he can get back on and surf the net. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

ERRORS: missing or corrupt : \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM, or missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE, or Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} http://support.microsoft.com/defaul... How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry that Prevents Windows XP from Starting The above, as it says, is only done to recover data. http://support.microsoft.com/defaul... How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP

Thanks for responding. I've already gone to Microsofts website. Unfortunately, his computer has an OEM operating system installed. It's a Toshiba Satellite A65-S1069. When I called Toshiba, they stated that the warranty had expired and I don't have the money to pay them to help me. I was hoping that maybe someone here could guide me through the process.