Cannot find hive

[Al Brassell]

Upon booting up my normally reliable PC I got a BSOD with the message "
Cannot find hive...". All attempts to reboot resulted in a BSOD and the same
error message. Next I tried the "Boot to the last known good configuraation"
I got a BSOD and the same error message. I had not recently installed any
software and the computer does not connect to the Internet. It was working
just fine up until then.

Is it possible to do a "repair Install" of my Windows XP?

 

[Menno Hershberger]

Upon booting up my normally reliable PC I got a BSOD with the message
" Cannot find hive...". All attempts to reboot resulted in a BSOD and
the same error message. Next I tried the "Boot to the last known good
configuraation" I got a BSOD and the same error message. I had not
recently installed any software and the computer does not connect to
the Internet. It was working just fine up until then.

Is it possible to do a "repair Install" of my Windows XP?

Yes. If you have a bonafide Microsoft XP CD (not a manufacturer's
restore CD). Boot from the CD (make sure your BIOS is set to boot from CD
first). Bypass the first option to repair using the Recovery Console, and
follow through till it asks you if you want to install Windows. Hit enter
to accept that and it will then identify your current installation. I
that point you'll be given a choice to do a "repair install". Pick that.
During that process you'll be asked for your product ID number, so be
sure to have it handy. Doing it this way will preserve all you programs
and data.
If all you have is the manufacturer's restore CD, then it will most
likely reformat your drive and do an original installation. In *either*
case you should back up any important data, just in case anything goes
wrong. I've done quite a few repair installs, and have never had a
problem.