Won't boot. Corrupted Pci.sys

[Inziladun]

Hey when I try to boot my computer it says "File is missing or corrupt: C:\Winnt\System32\Drivers\Pci.sys "

I tried everything I can think of and I can't friggin' get my computer to boot.

I googled it and came up with this site: "Pci.sys Is Missing or Corrupt" Error Message When You Start Windows

So I followed the instructions and went into the recovery console, but when I tried to expand the file it said access was denied. Now i'm really pulling out my hair here, I don't know how to gain access and I am the admin of the computer.

Can anyone help me?

 

[Hefemeister]

can you boot into safe mode to try a system restore point?

You could run a windows repair installation.

 

[Jorsoft]

If the system restore point doesn't work(It might, I've never tried before for this sort of a problem) then you should be able to run a repair installation and that ought to take care of it, like Hefe said.

 

[Slaymate]

I'm wondering what corrupted your file. Were you trying to overclock the system? If it just happened you may want to run memtest on your memory

 

[Inziladun]

I don't get the repair option when attempting a repair install of windows.

So I tried the steps listed here: How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
(trying to repair the bootcfg in the recovery console)

But it says one or more files are damaged and won't let me do much. At this point i'm wondering if my HDD is just screwed and I have to get a new one and hope I can transfer the data.

I'm wondering what corrupted your file. Were you trying to overclock the system? If it just happened you may want to run memtest on your memory

No clue. I wasn't doing anything at the time, the PC was just on desktop while I was laying in bed with my GF and I noticed it blue screened. I rebooted and I could never get it to boot back up. No recent overclocking, no recent software downloads or hardware installations.

 

[Hefemeister]

have you tried a

chkdsk /r

in the recovery console?

 

[Inziladun]

I tried chkdsk but it got to 50% and said "one or more files are unrepairably damaged" or something like that.

 

[Hefemeister]

sounds like a bad hard drive unfortunately.

Which is just confirming what you previously believed.

 

[Inziladun]

Well if I do get a new HDD is there any hope for the data on my old one? I've never had to transfer data between HDDs before so I'm kinda new when it comes to that. But from my understanding it has something to do with putting the new HDD as the master and making the old one the slave.

 

[Hefemeister]

if it is ide then yes you do a master slave setup with jumpers. If it is sata which is more likely you just plug it in with no jumper or cable settings required.