PC wont boot due to Missing File!

Hi my family PC has a problem. My sister was simply on the computer opening a digital camera program (so she says) when it crashed and it got the error message:

windows could not start because the follwing file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

I cant do anything with the computer after it says this.

I looked online for a fix but Im not too comfortable with what is being said at the following link to fix this issue.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?…5∏=winxp

Is this really what I have to do? If so, can someone please make sense of some of the jargon? Specifically the lines that say to cut and paste and edit my registry, (I dont want to mess my computer up).

I'll try to just put the windows disk in and see if it repairs it but if some one can help that would be great.

Please and thankyou

You need your Windows Installation CD (or an image of it on the drive somewere). Then.. Click on start, then run.. then type command. At the prompt type SFC /scannow. SFC (System File Checker) checks, replaces, repairs system files

Hi Crow, I thought you should know that I cant even get into windows and thus I cant go to the start button. When I turn the Comp off and on, the dell screen loads and thats when I get the error. I tried typing the sfc /sannow.sfc into the recovery console screen after I booted with the windows disk in but it didnt work. Any other suggestions? Thanks

hmm.. so I guess booting to safe mode is out as well.. ? Will it let you into BIOS?

Ya safe mode is out, I also tried the "start computer at last known good configuration", but when i try this and safe mode it goes straight back to the error screen. Very frustrating. I also tried the prescribed fix in the link i have in my first post. When I get to the recovery console screen, none of the commands shown in Part 2 will work. They say they are all invalid. As for the BIOS, Ill admit I have no idea what that is other than it is the basic input output something or other. Thakns for the help so far. Much appreciated.

Hey just lettin u know it was a hardware issue. The hard drive had zero bytes of information on it (Geek Patrol came over and ran some tests). So the hard drive was totally wiped out somehow. It was a dell and they apparently use shitty HD's. It was reformatted and everything was lost. Thanks anyway. Better make backups next time…