I was trying to help a user over the phone with her XP machine. She said the error message said that XP failed to start because the file in the system folder has been deleted or corrupted.

So I asked her to tell me the exact message and it apparently states that a file is missing or corrupted, and gives the path to the system folder but doesn't display the file name.

So I think ok no problem just run a repair. After spending some time getting her to the point of booting off the CD-ROM I finally get her to the screen that says hit R to repair, enter to enter setup, etc...

I tell her to hit R. When I ask her what she now sees she says she sees c:\>
There is no mention whatsoever of hit another button to begin repair, select partition, nothing.

I managed to get her to the boot menu and tried safe mode but that didn't work either.

I finally said to run setup again and discovered she has a 5 GB partition out of a 20 GB drive. And the other 15 GB isn't even partitioned.

I finally said to take it back to the dealer as its still under warranty.

Anyone have any idea as to anything else that she could try? I'd like to point out that she has no boot disk while I'm at it.

Thanks for any help.