System32 deleted by a virus, install CD is old and scratched, now what?

[Doomish]

As unfortunate as it is, my official computer is unusable (I am on my sister's of all things at the moment). My internet cut out one day, and upon starting a scan with AVG, the whole thing crashed, and it never came back up. It just kept restarting over and over and over. It's still doing it, in fact, and I have not gotten the computer to start successfully because some of the core files have been deleted.

It shows the HP start up screen, goes to the black-and-grey-you-hit-the-power-button screen, and no matter which option I go to (any of the safe modes, last known config, or normal start), it shows the XP startup screen, and then just restarts. Picking safe mode shows a bunch of missing files in the system32 folder. So, unless anyone knows if I can fix it without the install disk, I'm SOL.

Like I said, I have the CD key and I have the install disk. The disk will either refuse to be read when I put it in the drive, or it will freeze halfway through installation and say some random .sys file is corrupt. It's an XP Service Pack 3 (32-bit) CD, so it's practically ancient at this point.

Is there anything I can do?

[Mac2468]

Have you done anything in an attempt to fix the disk?

[Doomish]

Well, besides the obvious rub-on-shirt/blow-off-dust/wash-with-water, no.

[not_Morph53]

Borrow a friend's XP CD, as you use your own key, you are legally in the green.

[GunfighterJ]

You could also call microsoft. Because it's XP they will probably send you a disc for free because XP [U]was[/U] all that and they don't care about it that much anymore. Also if you have your CD key they are more likely to give you a new copy.

[Pepin]

If you need to back up your files get Ubuntu and back it up that way. I think there is a good chance your hard drive is dying.

[長門有希]

Make a LiveCD, write your sister's System32 on it, copy it. If you run the same version of Windows, there's a slim chance it'll work.

[not_Morph53]

[QUOTE=Ezhik;25543389]Make a LiveCD, write your sister's System32 on it, copy it. If you run the same version of Windows, there's a slim chance it'll work.[/QUOTE]

As long as the hardware is similar. If they use different HALs, it becomes a pain in the ass.

[Doomish]

[QUOTE=bootv2;25553510]just download a xp installation and intall using your own cd key. since you have your own cd key you don't have anything to worry about! it's 100% legal[/QUOTE]

Can anyone confirm this? Is it not warez if I use my own key and still have the CD even if it doesn't work?

[GunfighterJ]

[QUOTE=Doomish;25553720]Can anyone confirm this? Is it not warez if I use my own key and still have the CD even if it doesn't work?[/QUOTE]

I can confirm that it is indeed 100% legal to download a copy of XP [U]IF AND ONLY IF[/U] you own a CD key that you purchased and you download the same version that came with the CD key.