Ran into a major problem a few days ago on the main drive for my desktop.

I'm running XP on it. And pretty much this is how it goes down,

Started up the computer and as XP begins to load a quick flash, and a micro seconds blue screen flash, then automatic restart. Error message, windows fail to shut down properly, and then it wants to scan the drive. After doing so, errors were found, and it begins deleteing Security ID pathways, 45,000 more or less. It replaces them all with default files. I've now managed to get to the desktop.


System restore does not work.
-"system restore is not able to protect your computer please restart your computer and try again"
- Computer management, "Could not start the system restore service service on local computer. Error 1068: the dependency service or group failed to start."
-I've tried uninstalling the latest XP updates, with no luck
-Can't do anything with files, such as move/copy
-I can start must applications

I'm rather certain it's not an malware or virus problem. Something appears to have gone wrong during a windows update. And I'm going through a number of tricks to get system restore functioning again.

Figured I would check with you folks for ideas