BSOD on Start Up

[Thomas Howland]

Im working on a friends computer. The computer has XP-Pro.
After showing the Windows Xp title screen, the computer
alwasy gets a BSOD. Safe Mode and Last Known Good Config
end in the same BSOD. The BSOD message is the following.

STOP:: coooo218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannont load the hive (file):
\systemroot\system32\config\software
or its log or alternate.
it is corrupt, absend, or not wirteable.

Begining dump of physical memory:

After the BSOD message the comp will restart itself.

Is there any hope for this machine or should i just wipe
the harddrive and reinstall?

~Thomas~

 

[Rock]

Thomas,

See this MS Knowledge Base Article:

"STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}" Error Message When You Install
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=830084

 

[Guest]

thanks for the quick response. the page you linked me to
sounds good and all if i was trying to install XP but im
not. I installed XP on this comp myself two years ago. the
comp has been working fine untill the last few days when it
started to BSOD. im thinking the hard drive is trashed.

~Thomas~

 

[Rock]

That's one possibility as the article indicates. Download a diagnostic
utility from the drive manufacturer's website. This creates a boot
floppy from which the diagnostics can be run.

 

[Thomas Howland]

Thanks again for replying. I put a XP-Pro cd and i did not
get the normall setup screen. in stead i was given a black
screen with white lettering. i was given three options.
Option #1: Continue currnet upgrade
Option #2: Cancel current upgrade and install XP
Option #3: Exit and restart

option 2 takes me to the XP setup screen. i went here and
then cancelled the install. thinking it would solve this
whole mess. it did not work.

this guy told me his kid likes to put cd's in and being
pressing keys. im wondering if the kid put in the XP-PRO cd
and started a installtion and then turned the comp off
halfway into it.

~Thomas~

 

[Kelly]

Hi Thomas,

Have done this for several users and it works. Good luck!

In Recovery Console:

Type cd sytem32\config , and then press ENTER.
Type dir system , and then press ENTER.

Depending on your error message, use as follows:

Next type: ren software software.bak and then press ENTER.

or:

type ren system system.bak and then press ENTER.

Next type:

copy c:\windows\repair\software , and then press ENTER.

or:

copy c:\windows\repair\system , and then press ENTER.

Exit, reboot.

More info here:

Recovering XP using the Recovery Console (Line 333) right hand side
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

 

[Rock]

Could be. Kelly's suggestion looks promising. That replaces the
registry hives with the backup ones.