How-To Geek

I really need help. My teenage daughter corrupted our gateway PC by downloading too much junk from the internet. I want to strangle her...we told her to stop downloading junk. We have AVG virus protection, but it may have expired. When you turn on the PC, several websites start popping up. I decided to clean all the files off of it and do a system recovery. Since I did not make a backup copies of the recovery disks, I used the internal recovery program installed on the PC. However, I believe, I made the problem worse because I think the recovery process I selected removed the operating system and possibly some critical files.
When I try to rebot the system, I get the following error message:

"Widows failed to load because the system registry file is missing or corrupt" File: \Windows\System 32\Config\System, Status: oxc000000f

I ordered recovery disk from gateway's website last week and received them in the mail yesterday: 1 system disk, 3 recovery disks and 1 language disk. So, last night, I went through steps 1 and 2 without issue, but could not perform step 3. Step 1 - insert system Disc; Step 2 -Reboot PC and press F12, then select CDROM as the boot device. After I complete step 2, the following appears on the screen "Windows is loading files" a white bar appears, then a new message appears "Starting windows", then lastly, "Gateway Recovery Management" "Please wait a moment" and a circulating object appears that twirls. The object twirled so long, that I finally went to bed, this morning, it was still twirling around. The PC is out of warranty, so I can't get IT support from gateway without paying for it. I printed off a set of instructions provided on this website for a similar issue reported 3 years ago, but that did not work either. I am thinking, the issue has something to do with the missing registry file.

Need advice on what I should do?

Thanks...did everything you recommended in the post, but the DVD didn't load. When I reboot with the DVD inserted in the drive, I get an error message under Windows Boot Manager that says "Windows has encountered a problem communicating with a device connected to your computer" It suggest it could be a USB disconnected while running or a faulty hardware such as a hard drive or CD-Rom drive.

This is the error listed:

File:\Boot|BCD
Status: OXC0000e9
Info: An unexpected I/O error has occured

Do you recommend I take it to a technician to work on?

You need to change the boot order to get to the disk loader
reboot your machine and tap the F12 key rapidly, select the dvd option on reboot, you should now be able to reinstall the OS

Disconnect any devices, printers, disk drives etc in the process

I will retry tapping F12 rapidly again as suggested by vistamike.

You need to have the disk already in when you start the machine.

I had the disk in the drive and I tried it without the disk in the drive as well...no success either way. But check this out...I decided to try one last thing. I had a Windows XP operating program disk never used, so I loaded it and it started loading a bunch of files, then the prompt "Starting Windows" appeared on the screen and immediately following, the error message below appeared:

"A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer"

"If this is the first time you've seen this "Stop Error" screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears agin, follow these steps":

Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated."

"Run Chkdsk/F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer"

I then tried it again and the same error screen appeared. How do I get to a screen where I can type RUN CHKDSK/F to see if my hard drive is corrupted?