OS X Will not boot - bad kernal

[Willis]

Restarted my iMac and now i'm getting a error on screen saying I need to restart, was told by apple care its a bad kernal, tried to fix this in disk utility but with no joy. Apple care is now shut but need to get into my mac for emails. Looks like hard drive with my time machine back up is now died too. Is there a way like in windows where i can reinstall osx but keep all the files etc.

 

[VaderDSL]

If you do an archive and reinstall I think that preserves your files.

 

[artaxerxes]

archive and install will have you up and running immediately

basic reinstalling should also give you a chance to use your time machine backup if it is not f00ked

 

[Willis]

archive and install will have you up and running immediately

Will it be the same as before, or will I have to install the app's and stuff

 

[Willis]

This is the error code I'm getting, I'm in safe mode and seems fine but still get the Kernel panic error if I boot normally

 

[unknowndomain]

Take it to an Apple store or call AppleCare, they may be able to help.

 

[artaxerxes]

Archive and install will give you a clean install - you would need to reinstall apps - everything from the old disk would be there - so installing would be dragging them out of that folder for most apps that don't use an installer. Those that do would have to be manually restored.