Alright seeing as i cannot use my computer i will not be able to answer any questions you may want to ask me so i will describe what i was doing in detail.

Last night (7th May GMT) My computer was mucking about and being slow and locking up so i just help the power button in to perform a power shutdown on the machine.

This morning I tried to start up the machine and after the XP loading screen I hear some grinding noises with a black screen (Just before i would expect the welcome screen, I had these grinding noises a while ago some members may remember) after the grinds (I'm sure they are from the hard drive) I recieved a BSOD with the following written.

STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
the Registry cannot load the hive (File):
\System Root\System32\Config\SOFTWARE
or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent or not writeable

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

I'm not really bothered about the computer any more i'll probably order/purchase a new one by the end of the week.
If anything i would like to back up some files, songs, videos etc and then format the HDD and use it as a slave in the new system.

I've wiped/reset the CMOS and tried starting Windows in various modes (Safe Mode, Last known Good Configuration etc) neither of these have had any effect.

Last time i checked i had 0 cases of (BLAH)-ware and 0 viruses. I run at least one check per day.

I have access to the Windows XP Home Disc.

I DO NOT WANT TO FORMAT AND LOSE FILES.

I will attempt to check this thread whilst at school tomorrow and once again on my fathers computer when i get back home.

Thanks to anyone who can help.

PS: My Dad refuses me to test with his computer so i do not have access to spare components or power supplies etc.

try to restore your system from safe mode, naybe that will help

quote:

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Originally posted by supersonicdarky
try to restore your system from safe mode, naybe that will help

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quote:

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Originally posted by Fukafly
I've wiped/reset the CMOS and tried starting Windows in various modes (Safe Mode, Last known Good Configuration etc) neither of these have had any effect.

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sorry, i only read the 1st part, 2 lazy to read the rest

Boot from Knoppix (burn CD, put it in, boot up), and burn your files.

or reinstall windows. (not format for all you useless noobs)

yeah basically one of the registry hives is corrupted.....

Reinstall windows. (Or if you backed up your registry, load that)

I tried re-loading windows before a while ago, it seems impossible, can someone direct me to a web page with step by step instructions.

Last time i got somewhere and it said it would install and wipe my hard drive so i refused

You should be able to boot from your windows cd, and there should be an option to REPAIR windows.
That shouldnt wipe your hard drive.

And btw, its good idea to create a partition and place all your data on that and your OS on another, so you can easily reinstall windows without losing data

nice rafy, i was about to post a message saying that it said i was about to lose the "my documents" folder, and i went I'll cancel the process and then I'll create another partition as you say, is just over 9GB enough as it is all the available space?


EDIT:

Tried to create the partition but it looks like this.

PARTITION 1: blah blah blah (58000MB total) (9600MB free)
Unpartitioned space = 8MB

So i cannot create a partition.

What happens if i delete PARTITION 1 by pressing d. It says there are system files on it and i should only delete if i am willing to lose the system files. and it may not be able to boot windows XP until i complete installation

Does this mean that i will lose my other files also?

at 4 year old computer of mine

If that is your only partition, you will lose ALL data if you press d.

You could take the Hard drive out and connect it to another computer and take of the data you want from there.

Then reconnect it and reformat it with partitions for future......

Unfortunately i cannot install the HDD to another computer as my dad has some ultimate fear of me touching his computer (Even though i clean it of viruses and spyware and fix any hardware problems for him) so unless i buy a brand new machine and do as i planned to use this current Drive as a Slave/2nd Drive.

I'll probably do this as the current system just needs a shovel to dig its own grave really, must remember to steal RAM, DVD-RW and SoundCard first though.....

Do as Segosa suggested: Burn a LiveCD (Like Knoppix), boot it, copy your files via a network or CDs, use QTParted to erase your HDD, install your OS again.

Make sure you copied everything, and copied it correctly though before erasing your HDD.

I've tried CHKDSk and system recovery from recovery console neither worked.

On my way to buying a nice shiny AMD64 Unit later tonight

I suppose i could try this linux out first then, but who cares when new computer looms overhead

Hum I recommened you save files to another disk (re-writable) every week or so, so this won't be as bad I do

Could it be possible to make that registry key bootable to fix it or am i talking a load of crap

Bleh, boot to recovery console and then do a chkdsk /f (or whatever the repair param is). I had this problem and it worked for me.

I have my PC Partitioned, one 40 Gigabyte Hard Disk for me and another 30 Gigabyte Hard Disk for the rest of my family. When I installed XP Professional onto my new Hard Disk on Sunday, it asked me whether I wanted to repair my XP Professional Installation on my Family Hard Disk.

Insert the XP Disk, go through the options and see if it comes up, if it doesn't cancel the installation unless you want to reinstall XP.

Well I've left it with third dimension computers (some local computer repair one man company) to see what he can do with it, i'll probably buy my nice new system from him too saves me the hassle of installing the hardware when i have all my GCSE's to revise for, thanks for the help you guys (even though it failed to work) but at least i know i can get an answer sharpish here

I consider this thread to be closed and dead.


Thanks

(whatever happened to that many smilies image?)

u know what i had the same prob with my old HDD that it kept on corrupting and restarding by itself and safemode nor last know config didnt help

so if that doesnt help u might wanna get boot disk (if u havent already tried that) or just say goodbye like i did