Ahhhhhh!

[WonderBread]

Windows was working fine all day, even after i took off the NB heatsink to put some thermal paste on it, and then when i get back from the store i see this screen up that says

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
System32\DRIVERS\isapnp.sys"

what does it mean??!?!?!?

[cloasters]

Maybe it's "plug and play isa?" Don't remember ISA as being plug and play. Maybe you could find this file and put it where's it's missing? Probably worth a try...

[GrahamGarside]

yeah some isa devices supported pnp, my parents system has An AWE64 in it that does.

I think it means quite literally that, will it start in safe mode?

[dolanenwindrift]

Try safe mode like GG suggested - try a restore point from yesterday (if you can). Failing that and failing a reboot solution, you can always reinstall XP using the 'repair' approach. It actually works damn well most of the time, the only bust being reloading all the damn updates for XP.

[WonderBread]

it wont boot at all, not even the windows splash screen. all i get is the BIOS start up screen the one after it and then the error. Whats really strange is that i have no ISA ports or cards

[GrahamGarside]

It's a legacy thing, the southbridge does still have isa components I believe

[WonderBread]

if i do the repair, will i loose all my data?

[GrahamGarside]

nope

[robbie]

Load fail safe in the bios and see if that works.
Rob

[WonderBread]

all is well, thx

[cadaveca]

how is it that all is wel? pls let us know.

[WonderBread]

just did a system repair and it reinstalled all the system files, it even fixed a couple of other problems i had. its still kinda slow tho, im waiting to reinstall till i get my "Legal" copy of WinXP-pro

[cadaveca]

so probably a corruption from an overclocking attempt?

[WonderBread]

thats what im thinking, but how does that happen?

[Toro]

i blame it on black magic :\

[hides]

[dolanenwindrift]

Basically if windows crashes while certain files are open, those file have a chance to be corrupted. XP is remarkably resilient compared to previous versions of Window (Win2K was also very stable) but when it goes it goes lol. Also memroy corruption - which occurs when you have OCed too far - can also cause files to be written and saved in a corrupt format. The long and the short of it is what Toro said lol.

All technology works on one of two principles: Smoke or FM

[WonderBread]

so..... if i get corruption, does that mean i have to backdown the OC?

[Daniel ~]

Depends on when you encountered the corruption while O/Cing.

If it was your last settings, you most likely will have to back down or get better cooling.

But while experimenting I try quite a few things that don't even reach the desktop. Best way to see is to retun to normal settings, see what your left with.

[WonderBread]

what do you mean "see what your left with."?

[Daniel ~]

As far as your Windows install...corrupt or no... ":O}