My computer won’t start and it says – the Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: windows\system32\config\system”. I have a ThinkPad T60 computer and I am currently studying abroad in a different country away from home and I do not have the original CD for Windows…Is there any way I can get this fixed or solve it without the CD? Please write back if you can, it’d be much appreciated!

Usually on ThinkPad laptops you can repair or reinstall window from the hidden recovery partition. Turn on the laptop and press on the blue Access IBM button to activate the recovery wizard. Press on the button as soon as Lenovo (IBM) logo appears on the screen. You’ll see a few different options in the recovery menu. First, try repairing Windows. If it doesn’t help, reimage the hard drive back to factory defaults.

I have a HP DV5000 laptop, and I decided to do a full PC recovery, so when it tells me to put in 2nd disk, once I put the disk and press OK after a couple seconds while its trying to load it, it powers off automatically, I turn it on and start it over and it still does the same thing. I have never experienced that before, I have done PC recoveries a lot of times before. Please help me, I have contacted HP support they do not know the problem.

I’m not sure if I have the right answer for you but…
1. Make sure the second CD is clean. You can clean up the CD with soft cloth.
2. Run hard drive diagnostics test. You can use Hitachi’s drive fitness test, that’s a good one. Could be something wrong with the hard drive.
3. Run memory test. Memtest86+ should work just fine.

I doubt that your laptop powers off because of overheating because it happens only when you run the second recovery disk, but just in case clean the cooling module. Make sure there is no dust inside the heat sink. You can blow off the dust using canned air.

The harddrive makes a weird noise and suddenly the screen goes blank loose all my work. I did my backup recovery disks and bought a new harddrive; I tried booting from the disk but no-go, the screen comes and says no operating system found.
I had to put back in my old harddrive. I’m so frustrated with this laptop. Please help!

Make sure the laptop actually boots from the DVD drive. Apparently the laptop is not booting from the recovery disc and goes straight to the hard drive. You have a new blank hard drive installed, that’s why you see “No operating system found” message.
Here’s what you should do. Enter the BIOS setup menu, go to the boot order menu and set the DVD drive as first bootable device in the order. Safe changes and restart the laptop. If you did everything correctly and your recovery disc is good, the laptop will start booting from the recovery disc and you’ll be able to reimage the hard drive back to factory defaults.

I have Toshiba Satellite A75-S211 laptop and I’m getting “Output A:/ghost.err” error while restoring the configuration. So, I called Toshiba Tech support. They referred me to an authorized Service company. It looks like a known issue for users, but I don’t know why Toshiba doesn’t have solution.

First. Clean the recovery disc with a clean soft cloth. Run the recovery process and see if it works fine after cleaning the disc.
Second. Clean the DVD drive laser with 99% isopropyl alcohol and try running the recovery disc again.
Third. Test the hard drive, make sure it passes the diagnostic test. You can use Hitachi’s DFT utility for testing the hard drive. If the hard drive fails test, you’ll have to replace the hard drive.
Forth. It could be a bad disc and you’ll have to replace it.
Fifth. Could be something wrong with the DVD drive. Try installing generic version of Windows from another CD. If you can do that, apparently there is nothing wrong with the DVD drive. If it fails too, it’s possible that your DVD drive bad.

I get 10-fc12-0017 error message when I try to run the recovery disks on my Toshiba Satellite laptop. I get to the end of the 2nd disc and then the recovery process stops and this error message appears on the screen.

I got similar error message when I was troubleshooting a Toshiba laptop a few days ago. When I was running recovery discs I got an error message in the same format XX-fcXX-XXXX.
Cleaning recovery discs and even trying another set of discs didn’t help. The recovery process was interrupted with the same error message on the screen.
I tried running the recovery discs again and this time I was listening for the hard drive. I noticed that right before the recovery process stops with the error message, the hard drive was making repetitive clicking noises for a while, maybe for a minute or two. I think this error message 10-fc12-0017 could indicate a problem with the hard drive.
I’ll replace the hard drive and try reimage it again. Hopefully it will fix the problem.
Do you get the same error message on your Toshiba laptop?

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop. I’m trying to recover it using the recovery DVD that came with the computer. I followed the instructions on the DVD case: popped in the DVD, shut down the computer, powered up the computer while pressing F12. I see the screen with 4 options and I chose CD/DVD. The instructions says the computer should reboot from the DVD after picking this option, but I only see a black screen. The DVD is attempting to be read but nothing happens at all. I repeated the process several times, but I get the same thing. Can you help please?

You are doing everything correctly and it should work.
Try cleaning the recovery DVD disc with a soft cloth, maybe the disc is dirty. Also, try cleaning the CD/DVD drive laser with alcohol wipe, maybe the laser is not clean.
Is the laptop still bootable into Windows? Can you see the CD/DVD drive in My Computer? Does your CD/DVD drive read CDs and DVDs?
What is your reason for reimaging the hard drive?
Here’s what you can try to narrow down the problem. Try booting the laptop from another bootable disc. You can use generic Windows OS CD, live Linux CD (Knoppix for example), ultimate boot CD or any other bootable CD/DVD.
If the laptop boots from other discs but not from the Toshiba recovery disc, apparently the recovery disc is not good and has to be replaced.
If the laptop cannot boot from any bootable disc then most likely you have a problem with the CD/DVD drive.

My Toshiba laptop was being infected my adware/spyware, so I decided to put in the recovery disc. I didn’t back up anything because I had nothing important on there. When I insert the first disc, it starts to recover, but at 13% it stops and tells me to insert “next media”. What is that? And when I have to cancel it I restart the computer and it says, NTLDR is missing CTRL+ALt+Del to restart. I restart it and the same thing appears. I have no idea what to do. Please help me…please.
By the way it is a Toshiba A100/A105 Series.

The recovery process tells you to insert next media because your laptop has two recovery disc. You are running the first disc and when it tells you to insert next media, it’s asking for the second disc. The second disc is located in the same case, just open it up as a book and you’ll see the second disc. Run the recovery process again and when it’s asking for the next media, insert the second disc.

I had a problem with my USB ports surging, turned out to be the motherboard, sent it in to authorized dealer, had it repaired. Now my windows installer is not working, cannot do DMI update. After I saved everything to external hard drive I was going to use my recovery disk to start fresh, the recovery disk has worked in recent past, because I used it to try solve the USB problem. Now when I put the disk in it says that I have a A100, and the recovery disk is for a A105. I have tried tech support but after 3 different days of being on hold, I am getting sick of it. Do you have any ideas for me. I have updated BIOS, tried to install windows installer 3.1 redistributable, but nothing seems to help. I keep getting glitches such as not being able to install updates, can’t install .
By the way, have a Toshiba A105-S4004 notebook.

I think I know what is wrong with your laptop. After you replace the motherboard on a Toshiba notebook, it’s necessary to program the motherboard with a correct DMI string. The DMI string contains all information about your notebook, such as the notebook model name, part number and serial number. Without this information the recovery disk will not start correctly and you’ll get a “Wrong Machine” message when you run the recovery disk. Apparently, the technician forgot to write the DMI information after he replaced your motherboard.
Unfortunately, this utility (DMI update) for your notebook is available only for authorized technicians. You’ll have to send your computer back to the repair center and ask them to update the DMI information.
For some models this utility is available for downloads on the Toshiba website.

I have a Satellite M35x S111. I recently had the whole system board replaced and top cover courtesy of Toshiba, but I wanted to ask what was the correct driver load order for my model? Have recently moved so my setup disc are either in storage or in a box somewhere lol and I plan on reformatting soon but wanted to do so without all the mfg’s bloat they force on us these days, and then just ghost my drive to make another recovery disc. One without adaware, also what image app would you recommend?
Thanks in Advance.

I don’t think that you should worry about the correct driver load order. Just install all missing device drivers in the order you like.
I usually load device drivers in the following order: network card (if it wasn’t detected by Windows), video card, sound card, wireless card, card reader device, modem, etc… There is no rule I’m aware of.
If you decide to create your own image, do not load any applications. By the time you use it again, most likely the applications will be outdated.

I have an old Toshiba Portege 2000 and I am trying to recover the factory software image. I have the CDs and it recognizes the CD drive. The problem is that the recovery CD boots up in DOS and the recovery utility never runs. All the setup files are hidden.
When I put that same CD into another computer the recovery begins automatically.
Any ideas on how to get the process going on the Portege?

If the notebook CD drive works fine, the software recovery process for this model shouldn’t be different than for any other laptop. You place the recovery CD in the drive and restart the notebook. If you have default settings in BIOS, the CD drive should be listed in the boot order before the hard drive disk and the notebook should start booting from the recovery disk. You can also try to press the “C” key on start up as soon as Toshiba logo appears on the screen to make sure that the notebook boots from the CD drive.
I just found a support bulletin for Toshiba Portege 2000 notebook that explains how to fix “ERD difficulties with Windows 98 preinstalled machines”, not sure if it somehow related to your problem so check it out.
If you get a “Wrong Machine” error message when you try to run the recovery disk, check this support bulletin.