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General discussion

IBM Thinkpad problem

by DOMelbourne Nov 25, 2012 2:25PM PST

Hello all, my IBM thinkpad which is about 4 years old has come up with the following message.

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt

\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting windows Setup using the original Setuo CD-ROM

Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

Any clues on how to fix this? I have tried inserting the operating system disk-no good.

I have tried to start in safe mode-no good.
Everything I do seems to end up back at this message.
Thanks in advance!
Dave

Discussion is locked

6 Posts
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Basically
by Jimmy Greystone Nov 25, 2012 10:51PM PST

Basically your OS install is corrupt, leaving you with two choices:

1: You can try a repair install, which leaves your data intact, but you will almost certainly need to reinstall all your programs

2: You can format the drive and start with a fresh install. You lose all data and programs this way (which is why you have backups), but it's a clean break, and a chance to start fresh

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IBM THINKPAD
by DOMelbourne Nov 28, 2012 7:18AM PST

Hi Jimmy thanks for that. Would you mind giving me some tips on how to do option 2 please. I am not worried about losing data as it is all backed up.
Thanks in advance Dave.

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You said your IBM Thinkpad is about 4 years old
by Steven Haninger Nov 29, 2012 2:48AM PST

but the last I remember as IBM branded were the T-40 series. They became Lenovo after that. In any event, if yours was a factory installation, you should have a recovery partition and a Lenovo tool to do either a full or a repair installation. You didn't provide the model number so we really don't know how old yours is. It's a matter of pressing a key or two doing startup which will bring you to an options menu. If you cannot even get into safe mode, you can possibly recover your data before blowing things away. You can either boot from some Linux live CD (which you'd have to make from another PC) or you could put the hard drive in a USB external case and access it from another computer.

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IBM Think pad
by DOMelbourne Nov 29, 2012 6:45AM PST

Hi Steven, yes this one is a Lenovo T 43. Any chance you could help me with what to do in the options menu?
Thanks!

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Press the Blue . . .
by Coryphaeus Nov 29, 2012 9:53PM PST

ThinkVantage button immediately after the Splash screen. You will be given the options there.

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Think Vantage button
by DOMelbourne Dec 5, 2012 8:22AM PST

Done that, don't know what to do next??

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