Corrupted System File

Okay, I've got a problem.

I'm running Windows 2000 professional on a pretty old laptop (512mb RAM, 64mb integrated graphics card etc etc) that I use only for school work and surfing the internet.

Today when I tried to start it, I got an error message trying to boot up windows:

Error Message: Windows Could Not Start Because the Following File Is Missing or Corrupt: \Winnt\System32\Config\System

I tried running in safe mode and every other mode, but this error over runs everything.

I've done my research, don't worry. I don't know why this happened but I know what it is and I know how to fix it.

The problem is, I can't fix it.

I do not have the installation disk for windows 2000, so I can't even begin to repair it.

Ok, so heres my problem. I was thinking about installing Ubuntu or Linux on it, and considering windows has died on me, I guess this would be the best time to do it :P. But I can't run any disk to install another OS on it. How would I go about doing this? Reformatting the hard drive?

Any help is appreciated.

To Install something like Ubuntu you would simply download the image from the website, burn it to disk, go into your laptop BIOS and make sure its set to look at the DVDROM/CDROM to boot from first.
Put the disk in and reset the system, it will now boot from the CD/DVD and offer to install / let you play with the live disk :)

Right thanks.

My brother just gave me his linux install disk haha.

Thanks anyway.