\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM file is missing or corrupt and i have heard that it is possible to back up your hard drives before reinstalling windows, but how do you do this?
I posted this link on your first post on this. Did you try it? http://www.schrockinnovations.com/preventsys32config2.php
Where you doing a clone of a hard drive etc? when doing a clone of a hard drive on windows xp, sometimes the system drive letters get changed around. Download the demo of " paragon justboot corrector", and use that to bootup your computer. Your system drive needs to be c: drive. If it's not c: drive than you will get those warnings of "cannot find file" because during bootup the registry is looking for the startup files in the wrong drive. It's a quick 5 minute fix with the right utilitys. http://www.justboot.us/boot_corrector.htm