Either I'm getting stupider (possible) or my troubleshooting problems are getting harder. My computer locked up while playing Max Payne 2 yesterday so I turned it off. When I turned it back on I get a message saying Windows/system32/config/system is corrupt and that I should try the windows recovery console.

So I slip in my Windows XP cd and before I even try that I thought I'd take the easy way and just reinstall windows over that. NO! BSOD claiming Registry error on me. Hmmm.. I play their game, go for the recovery console. NO! REGISTRY ERROR!

So I take a look at the cd and it's so ugly that it ain't got no alibi. I think "OK, we'll just try the recovery console on an XP Home CD (original was pro). REGISTRY ERROR.

Here's some other dead ends:

Knoppix locks up while loading my ethernet devices. Why, I don't know.

I've managed to run chkdsk using some ultimate boot disk thing I saw on the internet. didn't change anything.

I have a dual boot with windows vista beta. The boot loader won't let me access my normal F8 functions for XP Pro and I can't get into vista because it locks up when I try to activate it since my little period is over.

Any ideas?

Since you can't get into the recovery console or windows or re-install windows I sorry to say I haven't got a clue, maybe use some third party partition software to format the disk and then re-install.

That's what I'm thinking. I'm not really jazzed about the idea, but I guess I haven't done that in a while so maybe it's a good thing.

I would still need to track down a friend's XP pro CD, I don't know if I trust mine.