A21m 1 long beep when trying to boot to XP then nothing....

[madmaven]

This beast of a A21m gave me the error message
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.
WINDOWS\system32\config\SYSTEM
try running the recovery console.
Which I did and inputted chkdsk /r and the machine checked and repaired one or more files. It only rebooted to teh same error message.
I was then going to skip it b/c It ws a recent install so i put the XP disk in and CAded it
Thats when I got the 1 long beep and it powered down and went dark.
I turned it on and it started up but did nothing. I took the disk out and turned it off.
Well, now it is up and running at the same place. what do you think causes a file like that to go missing?
and how would you fix it?
Thanks for the knowledge.
Leslie O

[makaveli559m]

You can use Bart PE to see if you can fix that error with out reformating try downloading it. Go look for it at Google.

[madmaven]

I have already reinstalled windows, but I went and read about Bart PE. I love this stuff. there is soooo much out there that I have no Idea about. it is truly humbling. Computers are great tools, just when you think you know a little they show you how much there is to learn.
MM