As far as I can tell, the hard disk is ok (it still shows up in my RAID set), but Windows XP Pro won’t boot, and gives me a system error ("windows\system32\config\system is missing or corrupt.")

Unfortunately I don’t have the original OS disc, but i have a XP Media Edition CD, which came with a recent Dell system purchase. I attempted to repair my old comp from the CD, but the Windows Recovery console gave me a "cannot find hard disk" error. The console gives me the same error when I tried formatting a brand new hard disk with the CD, so I am thinking something is up with the Dell software. It’s understandable that Dell would prohibit the software being used on any system but the one your bought from them.

So, would a new XP Pro CD work to repair the registry, even if it’s not the original, or is there something else I’m missing?