Another dead laptop question - help please!

[Moskvich]

My laptop has just informed me that :

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-Rom."

I don't really know anything about this stuff, but I assume that it's trying to say that the registry is knackered and that I need to dig out my original Windows XP cd so it can try and repair it.

I do have the CD somewhere, but it's a couple of hundred miles away in a garage.

Do I actually need MY original cd? Can I use another XP cd? Or is there anything else I can do? And if I find my original cd, what are the chances of resuscitation?

Any answers/clever suggestions very gratefully received. Many thanks in advance to those of you who've bothered to keep up with the IT revolution.

[Ironside]

any xp disk should do

[RichD]

I had this problem on my old laptop loads, if you google the problem then you can fix it by going into Windows XP repair mode and typing in loads of stuff to replace the system32 file with the backup. Was really annoying, I just ended up buying a new laptop cos im a balla

[Kaiser Soze]

This should help

There's a link from that article to make some XP boot floppies if you don't have your install CD, or try here if they're no good.