Hi, I hope someone can help me. I have a PC with XP installed on it. Yesterday i had to Force shut down (hold the power button) when it froze and just wouldnt let me do anything. I had been on the internet with a few tabs open and some music playing. Now when i try and reboot it it says that "the following file is missing or corrupt \windows\system32\config\system you can attempt to repair this fileby starting windows setup using the original setup cdrom, select 'r' at the first screen to repair." I got out my old vista cd, and tried that. It gave me an error message saying 'Setup did not find any HD drives installed on your comp. Make sure all hard drives are powered on and properly connected to the computer and any disk related hardware config is correct. This may involve running a manufactirers supplied diagnostic" I ran a HD diagnostic in the BIOS, it recognises my HD and says its fine.... I contacted Dell, they gave me a bunch of things to try (most of which Id already done) and no luck. These mostly involved reconnecting the HD. I then ran the 'Boot to Utility partition' ,it passed. Dell then said it must be a software issue. Id rather not system restore I have files I dont want to lose. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Congratulations, you are the 10,000 person to post here this year that have no backups of their personal data. Seriously, why don't you have backups. Do you really think the computer would never break? Use a different computer with a burner in it and download a drive fitness utility for whatever brand of hard drive is inside your computer. While you are downloading also get memtest86 for CD and burn it too. You will need to open the case to check on the hard drive brand and model. Make sure you unplug the computer and take electrostatic precautions when touching anything inside the case. You need to boot to each of these disks individually to check the hard drive and then the RAM. I suspect your hard drive or the controller on the motherboard has failed. The fitness utility will tell you one way or the other. Memtest86 will check your RAM for errors. As I stated I think it is the hard drive though. You may need to enter the setup screens to change the boot order for CD before hard drive. All of the above tests assume your computer is no longer under warranty. If it is still under warranty then contact the vendor for help.

Why would you use a Vista CD when you're running XP SP 2 ?

Booting to a Vista CD won't accomplish anything if you're running Windows XP. Why do you say "OLD Vista CD?" Where is the Windows Reinstallation CD that came with your computer? Use that one. Boot to it, and run a Repair. If the drive is Sata, you'll have to make sure and select the option to load those drivers before running the Repair. You'll see the prompt for that at the bottom of the screen. If I recall correctly, you'll need to press F6 to select that option. "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown

Sorry, that was a typo. Its a XP cd. Ill try reinstalling the drivers. Its a SATA Maxtor 6Y16OMO 160Gb HD, ive tried looking for drivers online,couldnt find any. Has anyone got any idea where else to look?I have a pile of disks,I presume it might be on one of them. they arent to hand though, that PC is in my parents.

Check the SATA mode in the BIOS and make sure that it's set to IDE.

You can get the drivers from Dell's Support Site. Enter the ST number from the case. "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown