Windows File Corrupt

[a7med_360]

Hey im running vaio AR21s widows xp mce, today i restarted my computer afer istallig live update for my Norton, and as the laptop was booting up i got the boot options(which is a first) it gave me the safe mode options etc....but whe i chose any of them (boot widows normally was my main goal here) i received an error msg saying

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\Windows\System32\Cofig\System"

and i have so much important data on the the driver, i was going to do a system recovery but was worried everything might get deleted.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!

sorry for any problems reading what im writing im using my old DELL laptop and the key "N" does not work properly

[Blencogo]

On the way into the Recovery Console you should have come to a screen asking you which Windows Installation to choose.

Did you just press enter? You must type in the actual number shown against your windows installation (presumably 1).

If you can't get it to work, you will need to borrow a XP Pro installation disc from someone. The Dell disc may not work because of the Vaio's Recovery Partition or some other incompatibility.

[a7med_360]

it gives me no options on the way to the recovery console

[apierc1]

Can I just ask, how many times have you tried booting up the system? I remember getting a System35 dll problem back on my sisters old desktop with windows 98, and I remember that sometimes it would load, and others it would say because of this missing or broken file it couldn't, if you could get it to load you could extract all your data and then do a hard reset.

[a7med_360]

ive tried 5-15x it keeps giving me the same error

[apierc1]

Well that was windows 98, just a suggestion, of course you can alwyas go somewhere, possibley say PC world where they could maybe extract the data from your hard drive so it is safe, maybe someone else knows if that's possible?

[a7med_360]

thats the problem i need the data by tomorrow......

this is how i get to recovery console

i put in the cd it open the windows installation options without me touching a thing
when i press R it takes me to the recovery console from here it beging with a C:\> so i how do i remove this? im guessing thats the problem

[a7med_360]

How do i log in????

[a7med_360]

anyone?>

[a7med_360]

noe everytime i type in MD TMP followed by enter it says the path or gile specified is not valid......anyone now what to do now:P

[kee-lo_]

How do i log in????

When you first set up your VAIO, you were asked for a password for the administrator account, use that.