verysmartboy

Hi Gurus ... Would appreciate your help on the following error i have on my Gateway PC which had Win2000 running ..it contains important applications & data which i want to retain. Problem: PC when booted gives this error message... "Win 2K could not be start bcos the foll file is missing or corrupt.. <win2000root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe. Pls re-install a copy of the above file " Actions taken " 1) Tried copying the same file "ntoskrnl.exe" from a identical Win2K installation on a similar working Gateway PC (tho do not remember the SP level on the faulty PC)...copied the file to the direcctory <WINNT\system32\..> but did not help ..i still get the same error message. 2)Deleted the copied file & thn created a dummy ntoskrnl.exe file in the same directory. 3) Booted from a Win2K install CD & selected the "Repair" option (thinking it might repair he dummy ntoskrnl.exe file which i created) & also used the Emergency Repair diskette which i had created last year ... it did some repairs but then got stuck at the error message... "The following value in the .SIF file that Setup uses is corrupted or missing: "Value 0 on the line in section [sourceDisksFiles] with key 'sp2.cab'. Setup was unable to copy the file sp2.cab - To skip this file press Esc...." .... At this stage im lost ..dont know how to proceed further ... Pls Gurus ...help me out....