Weird Computer Issue

[NeciFiX]

Just now my brother called me who lives in the cities and told me that last night when he was trying to uninstall Knight Online the uninstaller froze up. So, he pressed Ctrl+Alt+Delete and terminated the program. His screen went black, his computer "blanked out", and when his computer came back everything on his desktop was gone. In the Start Menu, there is nothing there except for a folder called, "Start Menu." It is empty. There is no accessories. Nothing. When he goes to "Local Disk C:/" he can see everything though and launch everything from there. But, when he goes to Documents and Settings and such, everything is wiped out. Since his start menu is gone, he cannot access System Restore. It seems like all his system files got wiped out from his Documents and Settings, Desktop and Program folders.

However, when he tried booting up his computer this morning he got the error: "Invalid boot .INE/Windows" (that's what he said it was). Then, it turned on as normal.

Does anybody know how to fix this? Or at least access system restore using the command prompt or not using the start menu. He is using Windows XP Home Edition.

Thanks!

NeciFiX

 

[wozelbeak]

can he do anything from safe mode?

 

[netBooger]

Can he access the Run command?

WinXP

If so then have him go to Run > type in MSCONFIG > and under the general tab it should say Launch System Restore.

Vista

Go to Run > type in CMD > (once at the command prompt type) cd /. hit enter > (then type) windows\system32\rstrui.exe hit enter.

That should start the system restore gui.

 

[NeciFiX]

It turns out he doesn't have any previous restore dates. How does he access system restore mode without doing an "improper shutdown."

 

[wozelbeak]

if he has no restore dates, it is not going to help going to system restore.
has he got his windows disk? if so he can run the disk and try to repair windows when it gives you that option.