"Maria" <Maria@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:45756FB3-C606-4237-83A7-2FFE7D82FF30@microsoft.com...
> Thanks for your response. I too was discouraged that someone had a
similar
> problem, resolved it, and didn't come back to say how.
>
> Anyway, I did try your suggestion and followed the instructions in the
link.
> I inserted the Windows XP CD, pressed enter when asked if I wanted to
start
> using CD, and waited to be prompted to press R for repair. Then got the
> command prompt. When entering cd system32, the response back was: The
path
> or file specified is not valid; when entering ren kernel32.dll
kernel32.old,
> the response was: The rename operation failed; when entering expand
> d:\i386\kernel32.dl_, the response was: Unable to create file Kernel
32.dll 0
> file(s) expanded. So I typed in exit, and the loop began again. No
change.
>
> Any ideas about the messages I received? Should I have done something
> differently? Anything else I can try?
>
> Thanks,
> Maria

It seems that you are unfamiliar with directory navigation commands.
Here is a 60 seconds crash course.
1. Go to the "root" directory of your partition:
cd \
2. Find out what folders you have:
dir or
dir win*
3. Go to the Windows directory:
cd windows or
cd winnt (if that's where Windows is installed)
4. Go to the system32 subdirectory:
cd system32

If you still don't get anywhere then you can use one of
these approaches:

a) Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot CD (www.bootdisk.com).
It gives you a Windows-like environment that lets you examine your
disk in detail.

b) Temporarily run the disk as a slave disk in some WinXP/2000
desktop.

Option a) requires some three hours to manufacture the CD.
It's a very powerful tool to have.

Option b) requires a $5.00 adapter to connec the laptop
disk to a desktop's ribbon cable. There is a risk of connecting
the cable back to front in which case you will fry your laptop
disk. Be careful!