What is happening to Windows

[Allen S]

Background story: I turned my computer off a couple hours ago. Turn it on, and thats when it started

I get passed the BIOS and before the Windows Xp loading screen i get this

"Windows\System32\config\system cannot load, its missing or corrupted yadda yadda yadda.

I followed the steps on this guide provided by microsoft http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

I get passed step 1, but it never asks me any of the Administration stuff. After all the copying and deleting of those files, i reboot. It gets me to windows, but its in 800x600 resolution and blue backround . I click start and the top says "owner". I cant run antivirus or anything because it says i dont have permission. So i restart and hit F8 when the screen is at the dell screen loading the BIOS (not the windows loading screen, F12 or F2 didn't have safemode as one of the options . The guide said to use F8 so i did) and i get more error messages. Same spot where the first problem started, i get a whole bunch of stuff about my computer and dell. At the very bottom, it says "Keyboard failed" It loads to the next screen where it has the normal menu when you try to enter safe mode and the keyboard seizes to work. I'm stuck at "run windows normally" and none of the arrow keys work. I manually shut it down because everything froze. My keyboard did have a spasm when i hit num lock. The light would flicker on when you'd press it and immediately turn off when you let it go.

What in the world happened? It was running fine yesterday!!! I'm so angry!!

 

[aford10]

Tap F8 on startup. Boot into safe mode with command prompt. At the command line type: %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe and press enter. Restore to before you had the problem.

 

[Allen S]

I did that and the system restore window came up, but its just a blank window. I ran this as an administrator. Would it work if i did it as owner?

 

[aford10]

You can try it as owner, it can't hurt.

 

[Allen S]

same thing happened. The toms hardware guide seems to be different and more promising than others. I'll try that tommorrow. What do you think could've happened?

 

[aford10]

Is 'owner' the profile you normally log into? When the resolution decreased, were you still logged into normal windows, or safe mode?

Go into the control panel-->user accounts-->which accounts are listed, and which are guest and/or admin accounts?

 

[Allen S]

I couldnt access the user accounts. I normally log into the account with my name on it, but now it only uses owner

Also, i found some software that has a registry cleaner in it. It is this program http://www.wincleaner.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=72 If i installed it (if i could) would it be wise to run it and fix the errors?

 

[aford10]

That owner account sounds like it only has guest access. You may want to log off and log on with the Administrator account. That may have better luck.

Do you have an XP disc?

 

[Allen S]

I do have the Xp disc. I have tried to use the Toms Harware guide and for some reason, i cant seem to get to the agreement screen where you push F8. It just goes straight to the menu where you can choose: Install Windows, repair windows with recovery console, and the last one i cant remember.

EDIT: I got to the agreement screen. Its copying the files now. I kept on trying to repair it so this time i tried to reinstall it and it found the messed up of windows

 

[aford10]

So you're doing a fresh install of windows?

That should fix the problem, but it will also wipe out your data.

 

[Allen S]

So it installed, everything is there. Except all my shortcuts are gone on the screen so i had to search for all of them to get them back. Kaspersky isnt working and i have to reenter the WEP key to get my internet back. I ran Wincleaner and it found 107 things wrong with the registry. I fixed them. Now i need to uninstall some programs, but the only thing it says in the add/remove programs that is installed is Wincleaner. Help??? I dont even know if i have SP2 or SP3...

 

[aford10]

Is it a retail XP disc, or a OEM restore disc? A retail XP disc wouldn't have kaspersky, wincleaner, or any other 3rd party application included with the install. A fresh install from a retail disc would wipe out all your shortcuts, documents, favorites, etc...An OEM recovery disc would reload the OS back to the factory settings (including the original bloatware).

I'd suggest using ccleaner to verify the issues that wincleaner is coming up with.

 

[Allen S]

Im pretty sure its a retail disc. and ccleaner isnt free im pretty sure

 

[aford10]

Yes, ccleaner is free. I use it all the time.
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

 

[Allen S]

Im just going to reformat. Kernell32.dll is missing.

 

[aford10]

Best of luck to you.