HELP! WindowsXP Failure

P

Perri Morgan

I write with desperation.

Upon returning from the holiday break, I started up my computer and got
the dreaded blue screen. For the past two days, I've been trying to
figure out what is wrong on my own, and I give up.

I get different messages each time I restart it. I can't even re-load
WinXP Home because I can't find a command prompt, even in safe mode.
The current message says:

STOP: c0000218 {registry file failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\systemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent, or not writable.

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further
assistance.

I finally hauled out the old laptop to see if some kind soul out there
could tell me what in the world is going on and how to get back on my
main computer. My life is on there!
 
D

DL

1) You dont install winxp from the command prompt
2) Does it start in using any of the safe mode options?
 
P

Perri Morgan

I can't seem to get to a command prompt. When I choose F8, then "SAFE
mode with command prompt", I never get there. Please advise?
 
J

John John

Try here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

You may have disk or file system corruption, you may need to run chkdsk
on the disk but be warned that there is always a risk of data loss when
you run chkdsk, try the above before doing a chkdsk. If you have a USB
drive enclosure you can put the desktop hard drive in the enclosure and
access the drive with your laptop or with another desktop, that will
permit you to try to salvage your files before you run a chkdsk on the
disk, or you can do the proceedure described in the above KB article
from the laptop with the drive in the enclosure.

John
 
P

Perri Morgan

I'll go check out the site before I ask a lot of stupid questions, like
how do I run chkdsk if I can't get a command prompt and what an
"enclosure" is. I'm afraid I don't speak computer; I just use it!
Thanks for the assist.

P
 
G

Gerry

Perri

Background information on Stop Error message
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms797160.aspx

0xC0000218: UNKNOWN_HARD_ERROR
(Click to consult the online MSDN article.)
A necessary Registry hive file couldn’t be loaded. The file may be
corrupt or missing (requiring either an Emergency Repair Disk or a
Windows reinstallation). The Registry files may have been corrupted
because of hard disk corruption or some other hardware problem. A driver
may have corrupted the Registry data while loading into memory, or the
memory where the Registry is loading may have a parity error (turn off
the external cache and check the physical RAM).
Source: http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

Do you have an Emergency Recovery Disk?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Repair_Disk

What is your computer make and model?

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
P

Perri Morgan

Okay all, when I restarted the computer and went to F8 and chose "SAFE
MODE", it went through dozens of lines that read something like this,
with the part after "system32" changing on each line:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\system32\config\system

Then it says "Windows could not start because the following file is
missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the
original Setup CD-ROM.

So my question is. . .How do I get the computer to read from the CD-ROM?
It's already in the drive.
 
J

John John

As far as I am aware of you cannot use a ERD to fix Windows XP, that is
strictly Windows NT/2000 stuff.

John
 
J

John John

You need a Windows XP CD to fix this problem, the chkdsk command can be
run from the Recovery Console, you boot to the Recovery Console by
booting with the Windows XP CD and selecting the proper repair option.

Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

If you don't have a Windows XP CD and if your computer has a floppy
drive you can create a set of boot floppies and access the Recovery
Console with the floppy set:

How to obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994

A USB drive enclosure is just a box that you put the hard drive in, then
with a USB cable you connect the box to another computer and you can see
the contents of the drive and save or salvage your files or move files
around from the other working computer. I mentioned this USB drive
enclosure because you mentioned that you had hauled the old laptop out,
being that you can't mount (slave) a desktop drive to a laptop I
suggested the USB enclosure. If you have another desktop then you can
just put the drive in it to salvage your files, if your drive is
formated NTFS (which it probably is) you need a Windows 2000/XP computer
to salvage them.

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=312100
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=cat3&product_code=333111

You have to get the right kind of enclosure for your drive, if you have
a SATA drive make sure that the enclosure can accommodate it.

John
 
J

John John

Your registry is corrupt and Windows cannot boot. You will have to
resort to KB article 307545 to fix this. If you have important files on
the drive you may want to salvage them before you go any further.

John
 
G

Gerry

John

I cannot debate that one (ERD) with you. I cannot find documentation to
confirm the answer one way or another.

Looking again at the information provided by the other person the hive
is identified as SOFTWARE or its log or alternate.

The procedure for replacing the corrupted hive from a command prompt is
described in KB Article 307545, quoted by you in an earlier post. That
would seem to be the way to proceed. As you have said once the hive is
replaced the first step should be to back up data files and then run
chkdsk to see if a problem with the hard drive was a cause of the
corruption of the hive..

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
G

Gerry

John

A follow up.

If one can "slave" the disk and recover data first that is to be
preferred to repairing the hive first. Whichever running chkdsk should
only be done after the first two operations have been completed.

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
J

John John

Yes, I would say so, I agree with you 100%! I believe that the poster
is experiencing disk corruption and if he has important files on the
disk he should try to salvage them before attempting to fix things and
especially before running chkdsk. In the first post the system halted
with a message saying that the SOFTWARE hive was missing or corrupt, but
in another post the system halted with a message saying that the SYSTEM
hive was corrupt. I can't say for sure but it appears that the disk has
suffered additional corruption while he was trying to boot Windows. If
no backups exist it is best to first try to save the user's files in a
situation like that.

John
 
P

Perri Morgan

Thanks to all of you who have responded. I have copied your replies and
am going to go through them one by one and figure out how to proceed. I
do have my original Windows XP CD, so that's not a problem, but some of
these steps sound pretty scary.

I also appreciate the explanations (the "enclosure", etc.), though I
don't even know what my hard drive looks like to put it in there. But
I'm going to read your notes and study these sites and see if I can fix
this catastrophe. Someone suggested that I recover my files before
trying a couple of these steps. Is that a fairly simple thing, and if
so, how? That's the part that has me so concerned. If I knew I could
recover all my files, I'd have the choice, if all else fails, to toss
the CPU out the window.

Thanks again to all,

Perri
 
G

Gerry

John

The instructions in KB 307545 replace both hives.


--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
P

Perri Morgan

Okay, I've already encountered the first problem, and it doesn't bode
well for the potential success of my trying to figure out but. . .

I don't understand all this terminology on article KB307545. Can
someone please tell me if my Windows XP disk and a "Windows Startup
Disk" are the same thing?

The article seems to indicate that the computer will read automatically
from the CD. I have the original Windows XP CD in the drive and
restarted, and after I got through the part where it won't boot up in
SAFE mode, it says, "You can attempt to repair this file by starting
Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM (Windows XP was already
installed on my computer when I got it, but again, I have the disk).
Then it says "Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair."

I can't figure out how to get the computer to recognize the CD-ROM. Is
it because the Windows XP CD-ROM and the Windows Startup disk are not
the same thing?

Exhausted,

Perri
 
G

Gerry

Perri

The problem you are trying to resolve is not so easy. You may be more
comfortable taking your computer to a small computer repair shop for
peace of mind.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
N

nass

Have a look on these links and see if you can get a clear idea on what you
can do and you cannot do!:
How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm

My Advice as other also advised you to backup if you have a Valuable Data on
your machine then try the procedure of Repairing the System.
If that sound to match and get you in a muddle, take the machine to your
local repair shop and they will fix it for you.
HTH.
nass
 
B

BruceM

The very first step is to tap the DEL key when it attempts to boot. This
will enter the BIOS setup.
Change the boot order (usually the second woindow) to first one IDE-0,
second one to cdrom.
Pop your disk in & reboot.
 

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