Help needed to get it working again

Hello, im very new to these acer aspires, and ive got a very big problem straight away.

Today ive borrowed my daughters acer aspire one , it says model ZG5 on the back.
(its a white one if thats any help)

My problem is that when i now switch it on it comes up saying.
windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: system32 drivers pci.sys

then it goes on to say i can repair with original cd-rom.

well for a start i have not got the cd rom for it or the lead for a cd rom.

I am hoping i dont lose any of my daughters settings or stuff, and would love to get this
working before she comes to pick it up tommorow.
I have a USB stick thing here so can transfer something if i need to (i hope) if this is possible.

its running on windows xp (i think it said home edition)

please help a silly old dad who is gonna get a right going over if its broke


phill

 

Phill,

How did it happen? What was the last thing you did before this problem came up?

In any case, there's a good chance that her personal files should be intact and it should be possible to get Windows working again.

However, you'll probably need someone with a little experience to help you out.

It can be done by booting into some Live linux distribution (like Ubuntu) off a USB flash stick, and manually restoring those missing/corrupt files... If that doesn't make Windows work, then you'd have to just salvage the personal files by copying them and then reinstall the system (or restore to a backup if there is one).

You'd better admit it to her and not try to make things worse, though.