\windows\system32\config\system

[teeling]

every time my friend turns his computer on he recieves this message -\windows\system32\config\system, he cant log into windows xp (sp1) and cant start it in safe mode by holding down f8. his windows startup cd wont work?

[Alan]

Has he added or taken away any hardware memory etc?
Did the machine just suddenly display the error on boot?
What exactly happens when press F8, does the error message come up straight away?

[ryanon]

I have this same problem also.

when you go into f8 and try and start in safe mode it goes only as far as the same system32/config/system

if you try and boot from the win xp cd you get this message

CDBOOT CANNOT FIND NTLDR

no hardware has been removed and the pc just would not go all of a sudden.

any suggestions???

[Alan]

Ryanon, the error CDBOOT CANNOT FIND NTLDR appears when trying to boot from self made Microsoft Windows XP/2k/NT boot disks. It is generated by the boot sector NT5BOOT.BIN. It doesn't mean what it says, though.
The message means that the boot sector was unable to find the file \I386\SETUPLDR.BIN on the CD. This can be because of two reasons, The file is not present or depending on the CD writing program, the file SETUPLDR.BIN and every other file on the CD is stored in the file table either as

SETUPLDR.BIN;1

or else as

SETUPLDR.BIN

the first variant is standard (';1' is "file version" as described in ISO9660 and an obligatory part of the file name), the second variant is used by Microsoft on it's CDs. The boot sectors NT5BOOT.BIN will only find the file \I386\SETUPLDR.BIN if the ';1' is not present.

You need to use the original copy of Windows or if the pc came preloaded, the recovery disc.

Assuming that both of you have the orginal Windows XP disc, you need to boot from it and use the Repair windows option to get your machines back into a bootable state.
Once you have the machines up and running, scan them for viruses, spyware etc.