2000 Pro will not boot! HELP!

[tinkerbell]

When starting up 2000 Pro, I get the screen that windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

It says also, you can attempt to repair windows 2000 setup using the orignial setup floppy or Cd-Rom select 'r' at the first screen to start repair. Well, I try pressing 'r' at first screen and have original CD in, but nothing happens, just brings up the same message as the first, that I just said.

Help! What do I do to repair this? I'm hoping I didn't loose everything on my drive. I'm in desperate need of help, so if anyone can do so, I surely would appreciate it, and thanks ahead of time.

[Kubie]

Hi tinkerbell,
Did this just happen or did you d/l something or make a change in the system?
I'm surprised you can't do a repair by booting from your cd.
Carl

[tinkerbell]

I have a switch box that runs both computers, my dog got in between the cables a few minutes ago, and the screen went blank. When I shut it down to restart, then showed the screen saying the above. It was working fine before. Any suggestions?????

[Kubie]

tinkerbell,

If you can't get into Safe-mode or to a command prompt and you can't boot from the cd to do a repair, the only other thing I can think of is to slave the drive to your other pc. Find the file on the cd and copy it to the apprpriate place on your drive.
If you can hold on alittle longer, someone may be along with more expertise than I have.
Carl

[tinkerbell]

it keeps bring up in the bios a removable drive as first boot. I tried changing and still goes back to it. Can this be the USB I have connected? I'm stumped.

[tinkerbell]

or can it be the switch box? Should I try without the switchbox, and see if it works?

[glc]

Your unintended shutdown trashed your registry.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=822705

This *might* work - if not, you are looking at a reinstall.

Use the Repair Console tool to replace the backup copy of the System hive from the repair folder. If the Repair Console tool is not installed on your computer, you can run it from the Emergency Repair process:
Use the Windows 2000 CD-ROM or the Windows 2000 Startup disk to start the computer.
When you see the "Welcome to Setup" message, press R for "repair."
Press C to run the Recovery Console tool.
Select the installation that you want to repair.
Type the administrator password.
If the computer is a domain controller, type the password for Directory Services Restore Mode when you are prompted to do so.

For additional information about the Recovery Console tool, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q239803 How to Change the Recovery Console Administrator Password on a Domain Controller

Q223301 Protection of the Administrator Account in the Offline SAM
At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following commands, pressing ENTER after you type each command:

cd system32\config
ren system system.old
ren system.alt systemalt.old
If you have run the Emergency Repair Disk Wizard from Windows Backup and Recovery tools, copy the backup of the System hive from the %SystemRoot%\Repair\Regback folder.

If you have not run the Emergency Repair Disk Wizard, copy the default System hive from the %SystemRoot%\Repair folder.

IMPORTANT : You need to restore the most recent copy of the System hive. You also need to reinstall any hardware device drivers or programs that run as services that you installed since the last time that you updated your Emergency Repair Disk.

To copy the default System hive, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

copy c:\winnt\repair\system
to copy the default system hive

To copy the System hive that was backed up the last time that you ran the Emergency Repair Disk Wizard, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

copy c:\winnt\repair\regback\system
At the command prompt, type exit , and then press ENTER to restart your computer.

--------------------------

Reminds me - this is a good time for me to update my emergency repair disk!

[adjackson39]

You can also, when prompted, select the option to do a normal install instead of selecting "R" from the 2000 setup screen. Within the next few screens it will ask it you want to repair the 2000 installation again, from here select that option and it will reinstall all the required files while keeping a hold of the customization of 2000...

If you are having problems with the registry then follow the instructions in the previous post to go back to a previous backup of the registry. You should be good to go from there.

Good luck,

Anthony

[bobdavis]

Originally Posted by tinkerbell

When starting up 2000 Pro, I get the screen that windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

It says also, you can attempt to repair windows 2000 setup using the orignial setup floppy or Cd-Rom select 'r' at the first screen to start repair. Well, I try pressing 'r' at first screen and have original CD in, but nothing happens, just brings up the same message as the first, that I just said.

Help! What do I do to repair this? I'm hoping I didn't loose everything on my drive. I'm in desperate need of help, so if anyone can do so, I surely would appreciate it, and thanks ahead of time.

Dear Tinkerbell,

I have done a repair with XP and the people at MS ask that you hit the first "r" on the first screen but I learned from a friend that you ignore this and do the install windows then on the next screen it allows you to do a "r" install or reapir then it does it correctly. I hope that this helps as I remeber untill my friend told me I thought I would loose everything too.

[thefultonhow]

Bob, this thread was posted almost three years ago. If it's not solved by now I'd be very surprised. I'm closing the thread.