A simple task of removing an internal tape drive for Windows 2000 Computer Server turned to be a disaster. I was tasked to remove a tape drive from Dell PowerEdge 2550 Rack Computer Server which host MSSQL Database. The job is nothing to be afraid worried about. So, after office hours, I shutdown the server and removed the tape drive. The surprisingly horrible thing happened after the task was done upon starting up the server.

Windows 2000 Computer Server could not start with the following Error Message:

Windows Could Not Start Because the Following File Is Missing or Corrupt: \Winnt\System32\Config\Systemced.

I tried to restart the Windows 2000 computer server on safe mode but could not too. Having a data backup or a whole windows backup prior to doing some task like this would be very important. It would not really matter whether a Windows 2000 Server Backup or a third party data backup software is used as long as there is a data backup.

It is good that prior to pulling off the internal tape drive, I have done data backup online to another server. The Windows 2000 System is badly corrupted that the error message advise Windows to be repaired.

A solution to Error Message: Windows Could Not Start Because the Following File is Missing or Corrupt: \Winnt\System32\Config\Systemced is out lined under Microsoft Website http://support.microsoft.com/kb/269075. Resolving the problem involves renaming of the system and system.alt to system.old and systemalt.old which can be found under c:\\Winnt\system32\config\ folder. A fresh copy then from c:\\Winnt\repair\ folder would be copied to c:\\Winnt\system32\config\ folder.

There’s an additional problem since Windows 2000 could not detect the DellPowerEdge 2550 RAID hard drives. A Dell PowerEdge 2550 RAID Controller driver is required.

Download free Dell PowerEdge 2550 RAID Controller Driver:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/format.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&deviceid=1375&libid=35&releaseid=R74082&vercnt=4&formatcnt=0&SystemID=PWE_PNT_P3C_2550&servicetag=&os=WNT5&osl=en&catid=35&impid=-1

Extract the downloaded file W2K-2806085.exe to 1.44Mb floppy disk.

Repair could now proceed as per Microsoft Website http://support.microsoft.com/kb/269075. After restart the error is now advises that Windows security file is not accessible. Thus, a fresh copy of Security file from c:\\Winnt\repair folder was copied to c:\\Winnt\system32\config folder. Windows 2000 server was restarted again, but another error says that Windows Software file is corrupted too. Thus, a fresh copy of Software file from c:\\Winnt\repair folder was copied to c:\\Winnt\system32\config folder. After the above changes, finally, the Windows 2000 computer server could boot up successfully.

The boot up process is fast, but shutting down takes like 10 minutes. Starting up the server again throws again the missing or corrupt SYSTEMced file. Due to Persistent Windows 2000 system crash the spare backup computer Acer Aspire T300 was used as temporary replacement. The backup data created earlier was replicated to the temporary computer server before it was turned up.

I ended up repairing the whole Windows 2000 Server installation instead of repairing the files only. Furthermore, I have to reinstall MSSQL 7.0 Database and all the software application. A pretty lengthy work, but I am glad there was a data backup available.