My laptop has problems starting up and always SAYS it has recovered from a serious ERROR when it finally starts up. Well I turned it on today for it to open all the way to my desktop then restart, which happens sometimes, and when i restarted it goes to the avertec name page right after i press power and then it goes to a black screen which says

windows cannot start because the following file is missing or corrupt- windows/system32/config/system

You can attempt to repair this file by using Windows Setup using the orginal setup CD-rom
Select "r" at the first screen to begin repair

the only THING on the first screen is it says press f2 for system utilities, where is this r?Can you boot in safemode?I cant boot anywhere, I press the on button the Avertec page comes up and then the message above comes on right away.

I did a little research on this and my understanding when i put the disc in, it should boot up differently, and from there i can press r on the keyboard to repair it..am i missing something? http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=307545Do you have a genuine windows Install disk,or a system recovery disk ?

Also, which windows ?Its Windows XP. As for the either question im assuming its a system recovery disk.

Anyway, I figured out how to go in the F2 screen and boot it off a disk before the hard drive. I decided to wipe it clean, since the onyl thing I will really be losing is Office 2000. I will let you guys know what happens.Nothing wrong with a clean wipe and install once in awhile...Well, the one computer game i play that needs a cd is now saying its corrupt when trying to install

but i do think the startup problem i had orginally has something to do with the windows update screwing everything upWhere is the Game CD from ? ?
If it's a copy or a torrent etc. that might explain it.