CPU Type AMD Athlon, 1333 MHz (10 x 133)
Motherboard Name MSI KM2M Combo (MS-6738) (3 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 SDR
DIMM, 2 DDR DIMM, Audio, Video)
Motherboard Chipset VIA VT8375 ProSavageDDR KM266

System Memory 1024 MB (DDR SDRAM) two 512 meg chips, tried removing
one, then the other, to see if memory was causing the problem. Same
problem on either chip.

BIOS Type Award (04/18/03)

Using XP home, sp2, all critical updates installed.



A while back when I would boot up my computer, I would get the folowing
screen...

''Windows could not start because the following files were missing or
corrupt:
\windows\system32\congfig\system.
You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the
original Setup CD ROM.
Select ''r'' at first screen to start repair.''

I would just press the ''r'' key and it would finish booting up ( most
of the time).
Sometimes I would power down and then reboot successfully.

Also occasional... ..''One of your disks need checking .......etc....''

After a week or so of the above, I REFORMATTED my ''C'' drive and
reinstalled XP home sp1, xp updates and SP2. Started booting OK.


After about another week, I started to get the ''Windows could not
start.....'' message again. Again I did this for about a week and then
REFORMATTED AGAIN. Computer booted normally for about another week.

Then it started again;
''Windows could not start because the following files were missing or
corrupt: \windows\system32\congfig\system.
You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the
original Setup CD ROM.
Select ''r'' at first screen to start repair.''



NEXT...I thought maybe my Harddrive was going bad and I was going to
install another Harddrive anyhow, so I put in new Harddrive and
FORMATTED it as ''C'' & ''E'', with ''C'' being boot drive.

About a week later, I started getting the same screen on boot....
''Windows could not start because the following files were missing or
corrupt:
\windows\system32\congfig\system.''


The next thing I did was ...
1. COPIED ''I386'' from Win XP cd-rom to ''C'' drive.

2. Start > Run and type: ''CMD'' and hit enter.

3. In the Command Prompt window type: SFC /SCANNOW
and hit enter. Have Windows XP CD available. ( previously COPIED
''I386'' from Win XP cd-rom to ''C'' drive.)

After running SFC:

Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools >
System Information > View > System History

4. Found close to ''100 pages of changes'' In ''System
Information/system summary/SOFTWARE ENVIREMENT'', showing ALL listed
items as ''REMOVED'' from STARTUP PROGRAMS.

5. In System Summary HARDWARE RESOURCES, found full page of ''STARTING
ADDRESSES CHANGED'' on all types hardware.

6. In COMPONANTS summary, found 2 pages of changes, all for DEVICE TYPE
''Audio or Video''

7. After doing the above, when I booted my computer this morning, got
the same message.... '' Windows could not start because the following
files were missing or corrupt:
\windows\system32\congfig\system. ''

Also previously got the following... ''One of your disks need checking''
on the new harddrive.

What can be causing this? ... this is driving me nuts.

I have ran Avast, Spybot, EWIDO, CW Shredder, MS AntiSpy, Ad-Aware se,
and Hijack this. NO malware found, only a few tracking cookies that were
removed.



Any ideas what in the world is happening?

bently