computer bods help please!!!

[beast5680]

my pc failed to start today and wont activate the screen, switching on and off didnt work but the screen then came to life and had the following message

windows failed to start because the following file is missing/corrupted

\windows\system32\config\system



is this terminal and is my hard drive toast now :(

[C C]

Assuming you are runing Windows XP and  you have a Windows CD you should give this a try.



Insert the Windows® XP Home/Professional CD into the CD-drive.  
Restart the computer 'Press any key to boot from the CD-ROM drive' will appear on the screen - press any key.
 

(If the computer will not boot from the CD the Boot order will have to be changed but that gets slightly more complex)

The Windows Setup blue screens will start and start loading files. Continue below at
After a few minutes Windows® Setup will stop at the Welcome to Setup blue screen.
To setup Windows XP now, press Enter.
To Repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.
To quit setup without installing XP, press F3.
 


Press R to repair the Windows XP installation.
The next screen will ask you which Windows installation you would like to log on to. Normally the following will be listed.
1:  C:\WINDOWS

Which Windows Installation would you like to log onto
(to Cancel, press ENTER)?
 


Press 1, then Enter to continue.
You may now be asked for the Administrator password..
If you know the Administrator password type it and press Enter.
If you don't know the Administrators password it may be blank. Just press Enter.
You will now see a command prompt:
C:\WINDOWS>


Type: chkdsk /r  

Press Enter.  

Wait until the chkdsk command has finished (this may take between 10 minutes and one hour).
Remove the Recovery CD and switch the computer off then back on.
Startup Windows as normal.

[beast5680]

Hmm cd i dont appear to have and the screen wont come on at all now (i,m on a laptop at the mo) but that may be something to do with it

looks like it will be going to the computer doctor tomorrow :roll:

[C C]

No output to the screen is not good.

Go see the computer doctor.

[strapping young lad]

is there no one round you on mc able to help you sort your pooter out?

did you say its a laptop drive (take the drive out and post it to me.. ill sort it :)

[beast5680]

no i,m on the laptop looking for answers and cos SWMBO needed to access her email for her work

the main desktop pc appears to be dead for some reason, it worked yesterday no problem but the missus went to switch it on today to do some work and the screen wouldnt come on, its done that before but switching off the pc then turning it back on sorted it but not this time it briefly came on and displayed the error message then went off and wont come on again, the main box of the pc has its lights on but normally you hear it sort of churning as it boots up then it comes to life. this time its like the lights are on but nowt happens
luckily i had a premonition the other week and made the wife buy a flash drive and save all her pre school documents she has for work on that as there are loads of docs she needs and records so at least she still got that

[paul_humphreys]

First thing to do is plug the monitor lead into the laptop to make sute that it works.

Paul

[Sharpshooter]

Really the first thing is too make sure the lead isnt hanging out of the pc at all.

:)

[Evilgoat]

if you dont mind the 45 min drive I can have a look at it tomorrow evening, depends on how desperate you are.

[beast5680]

First thing to do is plug the monitor lead into the laptop to make sute that it works.

Paul

ooh i,m thick didnt think of that i,ll have to try and see what happens :roll:

[beast5680]

if you dont mind the 45 min drive I can have a look at it tomorrow evening, depends on how desperate you are.

thanks for the offer i,ll see what happens :D

[beast5680]

First thing to do is plug the monitor lead into the laptop to make sute that it works.

Paul

ooh i,m thick didnt think of that i,ll have to try and see what happens :roll:

right done that and the moniter wont even switch on so either its that or i,ve got 2 problems :?  the power light wont come on for the monitor although power is coming up the lead to the screen(i tested it with a meter)

[dreadnought110]

First thing to do is plug the monitor lead into the laptop to make sute that it works.

Paul

ooh i,m thick didnt think of that i,ll have to try and see what happens :roll:

right done that and the moniter wont even switch on so either its that or i,ve got 2 problems :?  the power light wont come on for the monitor although power is coming up the lead to the screen(i tested it with a meter)

just as a quickie don't suppose you have a new flat screen telly some of them can be used as monitors could just plug it in??? :?

[paul_humphreys]

Looks like you could have 2 problems. Do you have another monitor you can try?

Paul

[beast5680]

no not got any other monitors unfortunatly, i,ll pop it round to the local computer place near work tomorrow and get them to plug it in and see what happens

cheers all for the suggestions

[dave_2A_2.25Turbo]

Could well be the video card has vibrated it's way out of place.  Although you have power to the screen, a lot  won't switch on unless it gets a signal

[C C]

The laptop probably has a video out socket try connecting the monitor up to it.

[strapping young lad]

right try this. (long shot)

hold down the function key (fn) and press f4 or f5 (i cant remember which)

on laptops the output can be redirected from the lcd screen to the vga out, and if its done inadvertently it wont show on lcd.. there are normally 3 setups  (normal, dual output on both screens, and output to monitor only)

worth a try

[beast5680]

well local company have had a look at the pc and apparently there are som RAM issues which they have solved and windows fell over and needed some repairs which they have done as well
as a coincidence the lcd screen happened to die at exactly the same time :roll:  but they have found out it has a 3 year warranty on it i just need to see when i bought it