Hello!
I got this message when booting.

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
system32\drivers\pci.sys

You can attempt to repair this file by starting windows setup using the original setup CD ROM.

Select r at the first screen to start repair.

What should i do? i tried putting the win xp c but didnt work or i did someting wrong. by the way its a laptop and the cd drive is kinda faulty. is it possible to install whether they are asking through a flask drive or floppy drive (i have a usb floppy drive)

thanks in advance

You could try booting to Safe Mode options.

Tap F8 between the computer logo or BIOS screen yet before XP tries to start.

First try the option: Last Known Good Configuration.

Otherwise you need to boot the XP CD into the Recovery Console.

Is the CD set to boot prior to the hard drive?

What do you mean exactly by: "didn't work"? What happened?

You cannot use USB devices to boot so you will need a working CD drive.

Also:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319136

Plus:

What is the make and model of the laptop?

didnt work as in i think my cd drive doesnt work sometimes. most times. u have to push it in a keep it like that the whole time for it too work

Another MS page specific to XP:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330181

Perhaps it is hardware related. Did XP work OK on this laptop previously?

Anyway repairing or replacing the CD drive would be a good first step.

i dont have anything like last good config in my bois.

tcl - chinese brand and model L7000

It is not the BIOS it is Safe Mode.

Tap F8 between the BIOS POST and XP trying to boot.

it worked fine.never had a problem with xp.last thing i remember doin was downloading music.wonder id that had anything to do with it.

how do i boot in safe mode?

when press f8 i got "select first boot device hdd or cdrom"

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d....mspx?mfr=true