Hi there,

I turned on my laptop (a Dell LATITUDE D600) today and the following message appeared:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<windowsroot>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe.
Please re-install a copy of the above file

If I press any key, it just restarts with the Dell opening, then goes straight back to the message. When the Dell menu is there (for about 2 seconds), the only options are F2=Setup, or F12=Boot Menu.

When I press F12, it says: Preparing 1 time boot..., then these options appear:

Internal HDD
CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive
Cardbus NIC
Onboard NIC
Diagnostics

I do apologise, as I know this problem has come up on here before. But I'm really not very good with computers and couldn't make head nor tail of it. Do I need to reboot? If so, which of the options should I choose? What happens when I do reboot?

I read somewhere that it might have something to do with my keyboard, but the keyboard has always worked fine, so Im guessing it's the hard drive?

Like I said, I know this problem has popped up here before, but I really REALLY would appreaciate some help from somebody! (please!)

Also, I'm pretty sure that I don't have any of the discs that came with the laptop, or the Windows discs either. Is that a big problem?

PS: does anyone have an idea how this whole thing might have happened? Is it a known bug? Or has my laptop been damaged physically?

Thanks so much in advance.

Well, I wouldn't worry about physical damage. Simplified, that message means that your Windows installation has been corrupted in some way. It could be simply your boot files are corrupted, or it could be more serious.

The quick and dirty way to fix something like that is to do a "repair install" from your Windows disc.

McFly said:

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply.

What if I no longer have the Windows disc?

What version of windows are you running? XP? Vista?

Hi there. Im using XP.

Im just waiting for my GF to get home as she might know where the disk is. I'm not counting on it though!

If we do find the disc, and use it, does that mean everything from the computer will be wiped?

Thanks so much for replying, Im in a bit of a panic here (it's her laptop!)

Rather than doing a repair installation I would try copying that file manually. It's much faster. I'm pressed for time now but I'll post instructions later if someone else hasn't by that time.

Info from another post:

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic74955.html

Steps to take:

Using a regular Windows XP disc, you boot to the disc, then press the R for repair to enter the repair or recovery console.
Select the operating system, then enter your admin password (I think you can simply hit enter if you don't have an admin password)
Type: Expand d:\i386\ntoskrnl.ex_ C:\Windows\System32. ("d" = whatever letter your cd/dvd drive is labeled)
You should get a prompt asking you if you want to Overwrite the File.
You should enter Y for yes, the press <ENTER> to Overwrite.

If the line reads, "ntoskrnl.exe 1 file expanded", you are hopefully home free.

From that point, you should be able to boot into the OS normally.

Thanks so very much for the reply, it really is good of you.

Sadly, I've found out that I don't have the windows XP disk any more! Errr, so I guess Im stuck?

Would it be possible for you to borrow a WinXP disc from someone? If not, you could try using a Dell recovery disc for windows xp if you know someone who has one.

Hi there,

Nope have no disks to use or borrow!

Hmm, I wonder if it would be possible to copy that file from a working XP computer and put it on yours?

If you were to find a working XP computer and copied that file, I wonder if it would be possible to place it on your laptop hdd? I'm not quite sure how you would get that file to your laptop without slaving the laptop hdd to another working XP computer.

Anyone have any ideas how to get that file to the laptop without slaving the hdd?

You could use a Linux boot disc with NTFS support.

I've replaced "missing or corrupt" files before, and I've scantly seen it solve the problem. For me at least, it's usually some other underlying corruption, that just happens to be the first thing it fails on.

Worth a shot though.

McFly, thanks a bunch for the reply!

I almost told him to create an Ultimate Boot CD for Windows, but I wasn't sure if he could create one from an already existing install on a working XP computer. I've only created one of those CDs and I just used my XP disc.

Many thanks for the assist, McFly. I hope this gets him going.

It's about 50/50 for me. When a hard drive is failing sometimes I'll see corruption messages. I just hate using a blowtorch to light a candle if you know what I mean.