So earlier today my computer was going really slow and I tried opening task manager which is when my computer froze, only thing that was going on was a kaspersky update. I had to force shutdown my computer and when I turned it back on, i got an error saying: "Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM ". I cannot boot into safe mode or anything without getting that error. I was looking at this article on the microsoft support http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545 but in the warning it says |Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your computer has an OEM-installed operating system. The system hive on OEM installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this article, you may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the original registry hives.".. so I can't use that because my windows came pre-installed with the computer? Any help with recovering all my files would be appreciated.
After a while of searching, found a solution at http://www.myfixes.com/articles/system option B worked for me. If anyone has a similar problem, check that page for possible solutions.