Missing/Corrupt System after 3186

B

bkemper

Bit poster
I ran the 3186 update today, started up my virtual from a bootcamp partition and proceeded to go into an endless loop where the XP desktop would appear, a blue screen flashes too fast to read and then restarts again. I had no choice but to stop the virtual (yes, I read the warning) and now if I try either parallels or bootcamp directly, I go to the safemode startup screen. If I try any of the choices, I get the message that Windows can't startup because the file \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM is missing or corrupt.

Is there anything I can do short of completely reinstalling Windows?

Bill
 
Same thing happened to me after uninstalling 3186.

Boot using your winxp cd and do a repair installation. Don't worry, you won't lose any data. You should have your bootcamp driver disc ready, as you will need to reinstall it after the repair.

Good luck.
 
I tried booting from the XP SP2 CD but couldn't get it to take. I also tried holding the C key down and also the option key. I could select the CD using option but it still wouldn't take. Is there a different key combination to use? I'm running a Mac Pro.

Thanks,

Bill
 
what do you mean by "you couldn't get it to take?"

when i did it, i held down the option key, and i selected the cd from the boot menu and booted from there...

a detailed description of what exactly is happening would help.
 
It doesn't boot from the CD. It keeps trying to startup from the bootcamp partition and locks up when it can't find the system file. I tried using option and selecting the CD but it didn't work for me.

Bill
 
I vaguely remember reading something about this problem with one of the beta's where a system would get into a state where is wouldn't boot from the CD. I recall that there was a resolution to the problem but I don't recall specifically what it was. Something about running some sort of disk utility.

Steve
 
Install 3186 crashes XP SP2 Bootcamp partition

I also experienced the problem of this repetitive cycling while trying my very first attempt at installing Parallels Desktop 2.5, build 3186.0 using a previously functional Bootcamp 1.2 installation on a separate hard drive on my Mac Pro.

I had previously installed Norton GoBack 4.0 which I have used to great success in the past on PCs. During this repetitive cycling episode on attempted install, I did (regrettably) deactivate GoBack. This did not help. Ultimately after 10-15 minutes flashing screens, despite warnings of doom, I stopped the virtual machine. This resulted in the above mentioned "blue screen" upon trying to boot up XP in Bootcamp. I did manage to boot up with XP install CD but could not launch recovery console. I reached a dead end when prompted to enter an administrator password but had never actually configured XP with an administrator or user password. Ultimately, I gave up and reinstalled Bootcamp.



I have only a few days left on a trial download and, needless to say, am reluctant to attempt another Parallels install, let alone buy the software. I hope someone on this forum has knowledge that will help me as well as others who have had this issue. I think that Paralells Desktop would be a great productivity enhancement to my personal computing needs. I just don't have the time to keep reinstalling Operatin systems. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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I am having the same problem, but running from a hard disk image, rather than Boot Camp. I installed the new version (3186) yesterday. It ran OK then, but now it won't start at all, telling me I am missing System files in Windows. I'm running a dual Xeon 2.66 ghz Mac Pro with 4 g of RAM, so I don't think the issue is my hardware.

I just paid my $79.99 yesterday, and really wish I hadn't. I can't find a way to make this work, and am starting to realize that I would have been better off just buying a cheap Windows laptop to run the few Windows-only programs I need.
 
Same ....

I had exactly the same problems - Bootcamp corrupted and won't boot after installing 3186. Also could not get the machine to boot from WinXP CD.

I just kept trying (booting into Mac, tried to boot into WinXP safe mode) and eventually my Macbook Pro took the CD and booted into it. It then went pretty smooth - I went into repair and recovered everything - but boy, it was scary as all my work stuff was on the Bootcamp partition.

Must say 3186 is generally pretty stable, but I am having a problem where I get the blue screen in Windows when I switch b/w native Bootcamp and Parallels Bootcamp.
 
Seems like lots of us are having trouble.

My situation is different, though: I'm not trying to start up into Bootcamp, but into a hard drive image file. I can start up into Bootcamp, but all my files are on that hard drive image file.

Do you have any ideas on how to repair the Windows files on that hard drive image file?
 
Dear Fso and others...

Good morning to you and sorry to hear your issues..
I have not try this myself, but have suggested and got no response whether it was successful or not.. but I was wondering if any of you can tell us if this works.

PLEASE MAKE BACKUP COPY OF IMAGE (BOOTCAMP) BEFORE YOU DO THIS!!!!!!

just uninstall the parallels using dmg file (LEAVE THE VM OR BOOTCAMP WHERE IT IS).
reboot the mac
run the installation of parallels from dmg file
when prompted, select typical installation(not express)
when prompted for location of the file, select the exisiting VM.
at some point Window installation should take over and will do search for previouse window installation. (if you need to do F8, make sure you press "fn" key as well)
you will have option to repair.
if repair fails for some reason, chose install window in different directory..(ex: c:\winnew)
either option will give you access to the data or files..

Good luck..

JL
 
I was able to reboot into Bootcamp. I'm busy now reinstalling my applications and data.

Still not convinced that my $79.99 wasn't wasted, and I might just buy a cheap Windows laptop today.
 
I had problems too.
I installed XP/SP2 with Boot Camp and everything went perfectly.
Them I wanted to try Parallels Build 3186: it will be very nice to use both: for light apps Parallels will be great and for heavy apps Boot Camp will just work.
I followed the instructions to use the boot camp partition under Parallels but when I startes the vm it reported a fatal error and from that moment it was impossible to boot from parallels and also from Boot Camp. I had to erase the boot camp partition and to reinstall XP/SP2. I think I will wait a bit before trying again Parallels!
 
Same problem!

Seems like the bootcamp part of Parallels is broken with 3186.
I also got the exact same problem with two different Macbook Pro.
Not so nice!!!

I haven't had the time yet to try the repair install....
 
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