Morning everyone,

I am using a housemates computer as my Acer Laptop has gone up the spout !!

I briefly used it yesterday with no problems, turned it off and then when I tried to use it today I get a message saying it can't load up because of the missing file named in the title of the thread, that is I get a message saying that the following is missing:-

\windows\system32\config\system

I have searched the internet and there are various ways to repair this but all the ones I've read need a back up Windows XP disk which Acer didn't give me. Or the options that don't ask for a disk don't work !!

Is there anyone out there who has any suggestions ???

Thanks.

First off try Safe Mode options.

Try "Last known good configuration".

If no good then try "Safe Mode" followed by "System Restore".

Safe Mode
--------------------------------------------------
Can you get into Safe Mode?


If all that fails you will need to follow Acer's path to Recovery.

http://www.acersupport.com/notebook/

If you need help here what is the exact model of your laptop?

Hi Thanks for your reply,

First off try Safe Mode options.

I presume this is where I tap F8 on boot up to go to the screen of options?

Try "Last known good configuration".

I have tried this but still it just goes to the screen saying:-

Windows could not start up because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by startnig Windows setup using the original setup CD-ROM. Select "r" at the first screen to start the repair.

If no good then try "Safe Mode" followed by "System Restore".

If I choose "safe mode" instead of last known good confiuration I get the same message as above but with it proceeded by a few other lines:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\system 32\ntoskrnl.exe
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\system 32\hal.dll
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\system 32\KDCOM.DLL
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\system 32\BOOTVID.dll
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\system 32\config\system
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\system 32\config\system.alt



Safe Mode
--------------------------------------------------
Can you get into Safe Mode?

After tapping F8 anything I seem to choose just bring me eventually back to the missing file screen. As ACER didn't supply me with a Windows back-up disk I am not able to try following the on screen prompt.

If all that fails you will need to follow Acer's path to Recovery.

http://www.acersupport.com/notebook/

I will have a look on their website but at first glance on the drop down menu of model series mine isn't listed!?! I have now searched their site but couldn't find much so have sent them a message with the details of my problem, I have also found out the company I bought it from are no longer trading !!! I have been able to contact and get some help from the company that has taken over trading, they have helped me to enter the ACER set-up via the "Splash screen" by pressing F2 here I have then been able to get the computer to boot from the CD ROM. This only gives me the option of a full system restore, so I can end up with a working computer again but will lose my files. Any ideas on how I can extricate these beofre I restore?
If you need help here what is the exact model of your laptop?

My ACER is an Aspire 1642 WLMi P-M/740 512M 80Gb and I have had it about two and a half years which until now has been problem free.

After a long day of searching and reading I have ended up taking the following action .

My ACER self created back-up disks could not rectify the problem without wiping off all my data and files in doing a system recovery and basically re formatting the Laptop. One guide I read explained to me how to remove the files to a portable hard drive using Linux.

So on this other computer I have downloaded and prepared a Linux Live CD and then run this through my CD ROM on my "dead" Laptop. I am now currently copying my Documents from the hard drive of my Laptop to my portable hard drive.

I did try to get help from ACER and they were a little helpful but now tell me that I won't be able to run the back-up CDs to re-format once I have retrieved my data .

As I didn't know this I have already begun the retrival and so according to them am going to end up with a useless computer soonish?

Any ideas?

Sorry, I am a bit confused. Let's try to clarify the current situation:

You now have the material and know how to restore your laptop to factory condition i.e. reformat and clean install removing all data save the original condition. Is this correct?

Next you have extracted your important data to an external hard drive. Is this correct?

So what is preventing the reformat / clean install followed by importing your data back?

I am not talking about settings or programs which cannot be retrieved but basic data (files et al.) should be simply importable after the clean install.

So what am I missing?

Hi Yeah I'm a bit confused as well !!!

As it stands now I have removed some of the information from my internal hard drive to an external portable one, I just need to fully check tonight after work to see if I have everything I need .

I will then try to reformat from fresh using my self burnt back-up disks that my ACER laptop prompted me to make when I first got it.

This should then mean I can then update from Windows and import back in my files from my portable hard drive.

The only thing bothering me is I spoke to someone where I bought the computer from, they said as I had put Linux on the Laptop in order to access my files my ACER back-up disks would no longer work? I have a feeling this might be .

So tonight I think I should be back in business ?

One friend told me I need to check the hard drvie to see if its going bad? Do you know how I would go about doing this in order to find out if what I've just gone through is going to happen again in the near future?

Every hard drive manufacturer has a diagnostic utility you can boot and run to test the drive.

You need to know the manufacturer of the drive is all and go to their web site > support > diagnostic.

Your Acer recovery might be dependent on some hard drive files so I assume that Acer's reservation would be if you totally wiped the hard drive.

If you just ran a Live CD there should be no problem.

Another way around such issues is to remove the hard drive and load it up as a slave in another computer.