system32\drivers\pci.sys

Hi I have a HP Pav Dv9000 with Xp Home. Now when i switch on the laptop i get a msg Windows could not start bcos the foll file is missing system32\driver\pci.sys Please help! I have a lot of data that i don't want to lose. From some research on the internet it looks i might have to reload the OS. IS that the only option? Will I lose all the data?

Hi roar.

If you have a lot of data you don't want to lose, why don't you have it backed up?

Do you have a Windows XP install CD? If you, you can boot the Recovery Console from it by entering R at the first opportunity. Once you get to the command prompt, enter

chkdsk c: /r

Do not disturb, let it run to completion. This can take a while depending on how large the hard drive is. Reboot and see if that resolved the problem.

If not, boot the Recovery Console again and enter

expand d:\i386\pci.sy_ C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\pci.sys

d: would be your CD/DVD drive letter
C: would be your boot drive

Info on the expand command here: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/termse/p/expand.htm

If that doesn't resolve it, you can use Puppy Linux, a Linux Live (bootable) CD to save your data then do a reinstall of XP. See this post by Happyrck on GeeksToGo for some very explicit directions on using Puppy Linux.

Hi ZTruker, Thanks for the response! Point taken I will backup the data going fwd The Puppy Linux seemed to run well when it first ran then its got stuck at a point where the last line on the screen is Loading kernel modules…_ (flashing cursor) it's been like this for 30 mins. Is it supposed to take that long? Longer? What do i do?

No, Puppy should only take a few minutes to boot.

Do you have a real XP install CD or a OEM Recovery CD? If the latter, see here:

How to run chkdsk from the Recovery Console - even if you don't have a XP CD