Hi all

My friend had passed me a 3yr old centrino laptop which I have used for a further 2 yrs. It runs on XP Pro. Recently I bought a new Core 2 Duo laptop. Strangely a few days later, the old laptop just 'died' on me. Now when I turn in on, a message says "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupted: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM. You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original CD ROM. Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair."

Are they referring to the Operating System? My friend had passed me a disc which I believe should be the recovery disc he made when he first got the laptop. However, when I insert the disc, let it run and press 'r', nothing happens. The same message keeps coming up. What else can I do?

I need some data from the old laptop. I have a backup for most of my data in a portable HDD but there is another problem and I shall post that in another thread later.

Can anyone help? Thanks.

right, again i have had a few similar problems but the one that came up with that error was a... really broken hard disk. However this is unlikely in your case because in Lenovo the first thing to break is windows, not hardware. Assuming that your hardware is ok you could look up on google for a linux distrinution iso and burn it with you new laptop (or live USB if no cd which is unlikely). Then boot from it as a live cd, no data will be affected. If you have a problem with your NTFS partition, install linux to flash disk, get WINE (not to drink but the virtualization style program) and run something like recuva to get your files bak or use a virtual machine to test your recovery cd for faults and if its the cd ask for a new one. Now if what I said is in some way wrong please dont yell, im only 13 and by the way this is for Lurkswithin cause I know he will post: take it easy pal!

Note: i made a typo: lenovo should read centrino. woops.

Thanks for the reply, Benjamin. However, your reply is much too deep for me. Btw, I am referring to the old laptop and not the new one. The new laptop is ok. I'm trying to get the old laptop started again to try to retrieve some data. Actually, only contacts, appointments from Microsoft Outlook. Hopefully to change the Hard disk and get a new OS to get the old laptap usable again.

Looks like I have to post my other problem here since it is related. I had wanted to sync my Motorola Q9 smartphone (Windows Mobile) with my new Laptop to transfer contacts/appointments from the phone to the Microsoft Outlook in the new laptop. Due to wrong settings in the smartphone, the new 'empty' laptop over-rode my Motorola smartphone thereby deleting all the contacts/appointments in my smartphone. The only other place where I still had the contacts/appointments in Microsoft Outlook was in the old laptop which broke down as mentioned. So I am trying to get the old laptop working again to get to the data.

With advice from someone, I actually took out the hard disk from the old laptop, inserted it into a portable hard casing and it could be used as a portable HD, but I don't know how to look for the data required and how to merge that with my current data now in the Microsoft Outlook in the new laptop (I have since started to input contacts and appoinments in the new laptop). Problem eh?

Well now you put you HD into a case reveals very easy steps. Putting your HD into an external case is the correct and best thing for it. Follow these steps and if your data is on there youll find it (hopefully if it all goes well).

1.Connect your old HD in case to new laptop.
2.Download free program Recuva or something like it from the internet.
3.Use Recuva to scan your old drive for deleted, unreadable, corrupted and damaged files from damaged or unusable drive.
4.Select files to recover.

WARNING: DO NOT GO TO MY COMPUTER AND TRY TO OPEN THE DRIVE MANUALLY. STANDARD EXPLORER BEHAVIOUR IS TO TELL YOU THAT THE DRIVE AT HAND IS NOT FORMATTED OR SOMETHING LIKE IT AND FORMAT IT. THIS WILL WIPE YOUR DATA FOR EVER!.

These steps will work if:
-Your drive is anywhere remotely close usable.

It wont if:
-The drive is TOO Foobar/kaput.

if you need any other help feel free to email me on [email protected]

Hi Benjamin. It doesn't work. I've downloaded Recuva using FileHippo to the old laptop's HD which is now a portable HD. Since the old laptop keeps coming up with that error message and it just doesn't run, I've connected the portable HD to the new laptop and ran the checker. However, the checker checks the new laptop itself and not the portable HD for missing files or outdated files.

I did manage to open the portable HD and get most of my other files and folders over to my new laptop. What is missing is still my contacts in Microsoft Outlook. There is a OUTLFLTR which is a DAT file in Microsoft Office under Program Files. Is this the data file for my contacts? If yes, is there any chance of merging it with the one on my new laptop?

If this still can't be done, then I guess I'll have to get the laptop to the PC shops to get it done.

Outlook stores its address book in .PAB format search for that file in your old disk.

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You cannot use any recovery program fro the same drive that you are trying to recover lost data from....it must be installed to a separate drive and the drive must have at the least the same amount of free space as the old drive has used or you may get a recovery error of not enough space...

For dealing with the outlook files and migration to the new laptop...I suggest that you use the free trial version of "transend migrator"

download from here:
Email Migration: email migration and conversion tools for all popular email systems

read this tutorial for how to:
Migrating Your Email & Addressbook from Outlook Express to Outlook - Office of Information Technologies - University of Notre Dame

I have no problem with you posting anything, Bud, or anything from anyone else for that fact, unless it is asinine information.... Stating that you are only 13 years old doesn't mean squat to me. Posting inadequate information or wrong information is what gets to me as it is a waste of time to all that is concerned because someone will have to go in and submit the correct way to fix not only what was wrong to begin with but also repair that which was submitted wrongly ( in some cases there is nothing left to do but re-format and re-install after some people wrong information is followed). This also leads to people becoming angry at the forums.

If you are only guessing use it on your own computer to see if it works first before submitting it to someone else.

You should never post your email in an open forum!
You should not request or offer service for repairs through email as this is a forum open to all and any information to fix or repair an issue should remain as available to all members.