Hey there,

You guys are so excellent at helping me I just keep coming back for more!! I now have a laptop that is completely buggered...and am looking to you for assistance...

I'm not sure what my mother has done or pressed, but everytime I turn the laptop on, all i get is a blue screen with the following error:

STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config|SONFTWARE
or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent, or not wrtiable.

I have no idea what this means...and I can't seem to get past it.

Hoping to hear from someone soon with guidance on what to do (apart from through laptop out of window!)

Thanking you ever so much

Sapna

The first thing to do is check the hard drive for errors.

To do this, boot your laptop into the Recovery Console from an XP Setup Disk.

Enter the Administrator password if prompted.

Then, at the command prompt, type chkdsk /r and and press ENTER.

When the chkdsk is finished, restart the computer to see if the problem has been fixed.


Here are some more thorough instructions:

Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.

Note:Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.

When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.

Note:If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.

When you are prompted to do so, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.

At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following then press Enter:

chkdsk /r

Allow this to run UNDISTURBED until completed.

When the chkdsk is finished, restart the computer to see if the problem has been fixed.

Hi there,

Thanks for the further instructions...it helped...

BUT...it's not working.

I have put the cd-rom in and restarted (I have to press the power off button in order to turn off the laptop, and then turn back on).
When it boots up, I first get the Dell screen, then I get a screen asking if I want to start Windows Normally, in Safe Mode, etc. I hit Start Normally and then I get the Windows XP screen with the little bar at the bottom that shows its loading. I've tried to hit R for recovery but nothing happens. Then the next screen I get is a blue screen with the error message.

What should I do now?

Thanks
Sapna

Hi sapna,

Your laptop is still trying to boot from the hard drive. You need to configure it to boot from the CD/DVD drive.

Here's how to do it:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/glo...toggle=&dl=

Note: If F12 does not give you the Boot Options menu, try F2 instead.

Hey,

Ok so the F12 works now and lets me boot from cd/dvd.

Problem : it won't accept my adminstrator password. i have even tried to leave it blank. it's definately the right one!! i even tried it in lower/upper/mixed case!

Is it going to be possible to get past that? Or shall I just throw it out of the window?!!

Hi sapna,

First of all, could you confirm that Windows XP and not Vista is the operating system on your laptop.

Unfortunately, if you can't get into the Recovery Console, things become somewhat complicated.

You will need to run an external chkdsk from a BartPE boot disk.

To build a Bart's PE disc please refer to the information here:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#start

And there is a tutorial on how to run chkdsk from a BartPE disk here:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=15520

Hello, yes it is Windows XP.
I have tried again but still unsuccessful.

I will try the above as recommended. Please can you advise if this will mean that I lose all data on the laptop or will it still be recoverable provided that this method will work?

Thanks

Sorry, just some further clarification...

As the laptop does not work, I will have to use another to download the BartPE - am I supposed to download and install on on the working machine then save to disk? (I'm a little unclear on the instructions!?!?!)

Thanks.

Hi sapna,

If the method works you will not lose any data. If the chkdsk /r works, it will repair any file corruption on your hard drive and your laptop will boot up properly afterwards.

You will need to use a working computer to create and burn the BartPE disk, then you use the BartPE disk to boot up your broken laptop and run the chkdsk /r.

(chkdsk /r just means 'check and repair the hard drive').

ok...thanks for clarifying!

well...I managed to get the BartPE to download and do it's thing. BUT big problem, it wo't complete because I have to use the original XP disc and then when it wants to burn it keeps comng up with an error as there is not a blank in the cd drive. When i take out the original XP disc and put in a blank it won't let me burn it because it comes up with an error saying it can't find file d:\i386\setupldr.bin

It's like i need the XP disc to be in and the blank disc to be in the at the same time!?!?!?!

Hi sapna,

Create a folder on your hard disk and call it XPCD, then copy the entire contents of your XP Setup CD into it.

Then, in PE Builder, in Source: (path to windows installation files) navigate to the folder where you copied the XP Setup CD files.

It should work fine then.

Duh...could have really thought of that myself!!

Anyhow, have now done that and it doesn't work. When I change the Source path to that folder, it still comes up with the same error message.

Would it make a difference if I uninstalled PE builder and reinstalled and tried again??

Yes, you can try reinstalling PE Builder.

Or, you could try this:

Use your XP Setup Disk in your CD drive as the source again.

Then, in PE Builder, in Media Output, check Create ISO image instead of Burn to CD/DVD.

Save the ISO file to a folder.

Then download imgburn, install it, and use imgburn to write the saved ISO file to a blank CD.

Imgburn website is here, it's a free program:

http://www.imgburn.com/

Best of luck.

Nooooooo....

So, I managed to get BartPE on a disc, and I also managed to boot from BartPE and run chkdisc. This completed so then I closed down and started up laptop...I select to boot windows normally and I still get the same erroe message!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi sapna,

Oh dear, from what you've told me it's possible that your hard drive might be damaged beyond repair.

But, don't give up yet, there are a couple more thing we can try.

First of all we need to verify that chkdsk scanned the correct drive.

Boot your laptop with the BartPE disk and click on Go. Move up to programs and click A43 File Management Utility. Then verify that your C: drive contains folders called 'Program Files' and 'WINDOWS'.

If these folders are present, run a full sector chkdsk on C:

To do this, follow the previous instructions until you get to here:



Then type y instead of n and then press enter.

Also type y and then press enter in any following boxes to run a full sector scan.

There should be five stages in this full sector scan and it will not complete very quickly.

If this does not work there is one more thing we can try.

Best of luck.

While it is entirely possible that this is due to a hardware failure, you might take a look at the Microsoft Knowledgebase article located here for a possible fix .

Thanks exile.

But that method can't be used because sapna does not have the password to get into the Recovery Console.

If we end up doing a Registry replacement, I think we are going to have to do it using a BartPE method. But I thought it best to do a surface scan first in case the disk has bad sectors everywhere.

If it's just registry corruption, and not a totally knackered hard drive, I actually have a disk which would fix this problem automatically in about 30 seconds, with no user intervention at all, just by booting from it. But it's only licensed to me. So, unfortunately, if we have to replace the registry, we'll have to do it the hard way.

There are ways of getting around the password, but let me make sure it's ok to post the info here first .

edit: Not ok to post, as it could be used for maliciousness as well. Google is your friend.

I normally use an *** Commander or P******e Kit boot CD to change Admin passwords. But these are 'pay for' programs. I don't know of any free programs for changing Admin passwords. I will have to get my Google searching head on.

EDIT: I've found a FREE program, but my own tools are far quicker and easier to use.

That's fine, but should you find it DO NOT post about it on the forum . I'd also recommend not PM'ing anyone about it either.

OK exile, no problem.

Hello,

OK, the above went straight over my head....LOL!

BUT - good news is that what you told me to do in post #15 worked!!!!!!! YAY!!!

Wow - good stuff! Thank you very much for your help.

I have another small cheeky question - one the the USB ports does not work - as far as I can owrk out the drivers are updated and there is no errors. Should I do a seperate post for this??

Thank you so much again!

Hi sapna,

Excellent news.

I'm glad that the BartPE full sector scan worked. Because the next thing to try would have been manually replacing the corrupted registry hives with a backup from a previous restore point, using the BartPE disk, which is quite a complicated procedure if you are not familiar with it. But we don't have to do that now, so that's OK.

However, the fact that the three stage BartPE chkdsk DID NOT work, and the five stage full sector scan BartPE chkdsk DID work, means that your hard drive may have some 'bad sectors' on it. This could mean that your hard drive may be starting to fail. So I would recommend making and keeping backups of any important data that you store on this hard drive. But, saying that, I have also seen hard drives with 'bad sectors' keep working for several years. So you may be OK for a while yet.

To keep your hard drive in the best possible condition, I would recommend that you run a five stage full sector scan chkdsk from within Windows XP about once a week.

To do this, first click on 'start' and then click on 'My Computer'.

Then RIGHT click on your (C:) drive and click on 'Properties'.

Then click on the 'Tools' tab and under 'Error-checking' click 'Check Now'.

You will see a gui with two boxes in it, one which says 'Automatically fix file system errors' and on which says 'Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors'.

Tick BOTH of these boxes and then click 'Start'.

You will then see a box which asks you if you want to schedule the disk check to occur the next time you restart Windows.

Click 'Yes' and restart your computer to run the full sector disk check.

Regarding your USB problem, the Admins on this forum like to keep separate topics in separate posts. So if you post another topic about your USB problem, someone (maybe me) should help you with it soon.

Happy computing.

All the best,

~Mark.

Ok that's cool - I'll back everything up now!! LOL!

I'll run the chkdsk from Windows XP - and hopefully all will remain ok!

Thanks again very much for all your help Mark.

Best Wishes
A very pleased Sapna