My daughters Laptop has come up with the following error..: 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 cd rom have a problem with this.....she snapped all the discs in half that came with it in temper because it wouldnt work.... It is an Acer 2420 Travelmate, i have contacted acer and they want 80 quid for the set up discs which i dont have right now. Now im not very pc literate at the best of times and this laptop is beyond me.I believe it is running or supposed to run windows xp. Another thing.the bios is locked and Acer want 50 quid to flash. I have tried to start in safe mode but i still get the same error. I have searched the net looking for help and i cant find anything. I did try putting in a windows XP disc but that didnt work.Thats when Bios locked up.I tried all the different bios passwords i could find on the net but they havent worked. I really would appreciate some help.I did take it to a repair shop who told me that it would need a new hard drive as it was or may be corrupt and it would need to be flashed to reset the bios and that it would need win xp reinstalling on it.He quoted me over 200 quid to get it fixed. Can anyone help me please? Thank you in advance. Appologies if ive posted in the wrong area.
When you tried to put in an XP disc what happened? Did it throw up any error messages? If it did nothing (just went straight back to the error) then try pressing F8 when the laptop turns on, this *may* give you a boot menu, simply select the CD/DVD drive and it should say "Press any key to install Windows" or similar. Press any key and it should start the install process allowing you to reinstall XP and format the drive. If there is data on there, then it is possible to get it off, you'll need a USB pendrive preferably and a Linux Live CD. There's a good guide here to guide you through it, it's fairly longwinded but should help.
Only one thing..i get no option to boot from the CD/DVD drive.as Bios is locked.I believe at the moment it is set to boot from the hard drive and i cant change that as i cant enter BIOS. Nothing happens now when it put in the XP disc. I cant enter the Phoenix BIOS setup utility.Password protected and i dont know what the password is.
Somebody must know what the BIOS password is and if your daughters snapped all the CDs then make her pay the 80 squids.
try one of these passwords - they're default ones that sometimes are implemented. phoenix PHOENIX CMOS BIOS otherwise you will have to clear the laptop's CMOS settings. i dunno where the dipswitch to do that would be though, though sometimes they're under the keyboard, so i gues that's as good a place as any to start looking... unless the user manual has any light to shed on the matter!
Acer know what the password is and they wont tell me.Their reasoning was that if they told me i might put it on the net.So they said they will flash it for me but i have to pay and also postage. .I have tried those passwords FOD and they don't unlock it. If my daughter had the money id get it off her but she is 9 yrs old and my ex husband bought the laptop for her and he is refuseing to help so i am trying to do what i can with it.
Umm..daft question...where is the CMOS battery?..is that the one with the void if removed sticker on it that i saw when i opened the back of the laptop up? Sorry but im a novice here..much rather take the engine apart in my car than try and understand computers and laptops!
it's hard to say. it would look like a larger than normal button type battery like you get in digital scales or the like. if you could post a pic of the underside of the laptop, i could give a best guess.
i must say you're being remarkably brave for someone with little tech experience! try not to break anything, will you?
Its called a daughter who never shuts up.Plus being on my own i have no choice.Its why i took a mechanics course so i could fix my car. I have a problem..I cant get the back off the laptop.Ive taken all the screws out..took the hard drive out which was just sitting there in a silver caseing....I dont want to break it by forceing it off..soo..how can i get the back off? I could take a pic on my phone and send it to you to see....as i dont have a digi cam.Ive been trying for the last 3 months to get this fixed.
generally things disassemble from the keyboard down, with laptops. try turning it back over and taking the keyboard out, if you can. (BE CAREFUL, there are some very small, very thin, very breakable cables attached to some very small, very breakable connectors), then seeing if you can go from there. mega disclaimer, i assume NO responsibility for anything you break. in all honestly though, i think you are better off sending it to acer, or getting someone who knows what they're doing in, though, since laptops are an absolute pain to work with, even for a geek on a good day.
This seems a bit to fishy to me. why would you have a missing file anyway how would it of got currupted, why is there a pass on the BIOS and last but not least why wouldnt your ex-husband agree to help out if it was your daughter laptop. How the hell would it cost £200 to fix your laptop its not hardware related, you would have his cost's which i would of thought would be about £100 maybe less and then there should be a activation key on the bottom of your laptop and he would just reinstall windows. nothing would have to be bought nothing would have to be changed physically.
culley, that error is commonly seen either when something screwed your registry over, or your hard drive is dying (usually it's the former). it's a simple fix if you can boot from CD, but this function has been disabled from the BIOS, and the BIOS is password protected. nothing fishy going on here, just a password protected BIOS.
A bit fishy??how could it be fishy..i aint making any of this up....if you dont believe me go to www.fordgalaxy.org.uk and have a look in the internet and computers side.Activation key..well...my daughter ripped that off.the only thing i have to prove that it was bought is the receipt.My ex husband refuses to help out as he has another family and he said its what he pays maintenance for.The bios is locked!!you have to put in a password to access it.I cant change how it boots up.My 9 yr old ddaughter threw it against the wall...shed fall asleep with it under her duvet...i would take it off her and she would snak it back..i am a single mum with 4 kids and im trying to get it fixed best i can.But if you think im making it up then please visit the website above and see what i have tried so far with this laptop.i have spent hours searching the net and then i found this website as there was a link to the modded laptop with the pirate logo on another site i am a member of. I appreciate the help i am getting and im sorry if i sound defensive, but i am trying my best to get this fixed!..if i had a camera..i would upload a pic for you to see.But i dont so i cant.I just need help. I dont know why there is a password on the bios..all i know is that there is..and following a link given earlier i am trying to find the battery and take it out for 30 mins to see if it works. By the way..if you do go to the above site..you want the ford galaxy site which i am admin of.
uh, wait, let me get this straight, your daughter threw the laptop against the wall? while it was still turned on!? in that case i can say with almost 100% certainty that the reason you're getting this error is because the hard drive is corrupt due to severe damage it received... ...which actually is probably a slight boon to you, since you can buy a new hard drive, install it. when a computer finds no boot sector on the first boot device it is (usually) forced to look elsewhere, booting from the CD and starting the windows install! then you can use one of the various windows based tools to reset the BIOS password.
Yes im afraid she did in temper.If i get a new hard drive....how will it boot up?as i dont have the original set up discs?Could i use a ahem xp disc that i was given?.The laptop is not used for the internet and hasnt been set up to.
right, most computers, when they turn on, will look for something called a boot sector on whatever drive they've been told to look at. if the boot sector is missing on that drive, in general, it will fall back to another drive, and keep going until it either runs out of drives or finds a boot sector, which then tells the computer what exactly to do next. since the hard drive in there actually has a boot sector the laptop can read, it's not moving onto the other drives. there's an easy way to test whether this will work - just boot up the laptop with the hard drive unplugged. if it then boots from the windows XP CD you have, or at least spins the disc up (if the disc is a copy it may not be bootable...), you should be fine... you will need a bootable windows XP install disc, depending on the version you were given it may or may not need activating. if it does, then i'm afraid you're out of luck without a valid CD key (which was printed on that certificate of authentication that was peeled off...) you will also need to install all the laptop's drivers after a successful install, which should be available at acer's website. to be honest your daughter's handiwork has made things a lot more complicated than they need be. time for some stern discipline regarding the evils of uncontrolled temper, methinks!
