Missing or corrupt hive

[Pawnless Endgame]

I know the answer to this problem - I have a burning question about it. The error message appears as white text on a black background just after the PC POSTs. It reads as follows:

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

The solution is to boot into the recovery console using a WXP CD, copy the default registry from C:\Windows\Repair in place of the bad reg files. This brings the PC back to default. To get the last-known-good reg files, you have to go into C:\System Volume Information and copy from there.

I work on a helpdesk for disabled students and I often get bugged with this problem. In year 2003, I implemented this fix 3 times. 2004 and 2005 were free from this problem. In year 2006, the problem came back and I had to deal with it no less than 10 times!

It only happens with Windows XP. The other burning problem I get is when the PC goes into a reboot loop no matter which option you press on the F8 "advanced options" menu. The fix is to run a chkdsk /r on the recovery console. Again, only on WXP. I have dealt with this problem on 18 PCs now. I have never seen these 2 problems on my own PC but it is very common amongst customer PCs. Any idea on causes?

Thanks.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

Thanks for the explanation Kami. You have summed it up really nicely! Yes, annoying it can be. We receive all manner of PCs, from very clean right down to P2P addicts who introduce spyware!! Although I'll check my fault logs, I'm pretty sure that this very problem does tend to happen on the cleaner machines.