Registry File Failure.....????

T

Tetherton

Guest
I am getting the following error when I try to start my PC:

Stop: C0000218 Registry File Failure
\System Root\System 32\Config\Software

is corrupt,absent or not available.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.....THxxxxxxxxx all

:)
 
Corrupt hive (or hives). Best bet is a repair installation.
 
I should have noted that.....When I try to do a 'repair' from the XP CD (boot from cd) it wont let me it wants to format and reinstall....I would rather not loose all my data on my HDD....

THxxxxx
 
Hey dude!

Here's an article to get you running when that happens. You might want to print it out and keep it handy until you can figure out whats causting it:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q307545

I still think it has something to do with your harddrive setup. List your system specs and maybe someone else has a similar setup and can pinpoint the trouble device and offer a permanent fix.
 
Then assuming you have the RC installed, Lonman's thread is the best bet.
 
allan, he's actually had this occur several times on his machine. I think there's something goofy happening between his IDE controller and the hard drive. Not that anything is wrong with the hardware... something not configured correctly in the bios i think. To get the installation to even complete the bios had to be manually set to LBA. I'm not familiar with the MSI bios setup so i'm stumped as to how to get it to recognize the drive correctly and assign it it's values.

Samsung has no setup utilities... would the Western Digital hard drive setup suite work on this drive? Or is there another utility he could use to help him see if that union (bios/harddrive) is correctly configured?
 
Lonman - sorry - didn't realize it was a pre-existing condition. I can't answer your question intellgently so I won't guess (I'm not a "hardware guy";) ) , but I'll send this link to a couple of people on our site who should know and ask them to post. Don't know when they'll be back on line - meanwhile, have a Happy and Safe Fourth -- wherever you are.;)
 
:confused:

Okay seeing as I am new to this thread (via a request from Allan) let me try and clarify some info,

If this is the only error message that you receive and you have previously experienced problems with the current BIOS not properly identifying the HD I would suggest several things.

Firstly, if the bios were not identifying the HD its not likely you would make it past the post bios test and your system would halt at that point.

The fact that you are making it past that point shows that the bios is recognizing the HD "to an extent" well enough to get past the post testing stage.

Soooo ;) here would be my questions…

1st) If you are able to boot to the recovery console, have you run the following?

chkdsk(space)/r (hit enter)

This will run the most thorough scan of the disk and repair the most errors.

2nd) What format is on your HD? How was it formatted? Did you do a clean install of XP initially or did you upgrade it from an existing OS? Did the XP setup perform the format? Was it the "quick" format?

I've found that (especially on older drivers) the NTFS format can become easily "broken". This can often be fixed using the /r switch in the RC with chkdsk.

However I would reccomend that the disk surface be wiped, setup with fdisk and formatted prior to installing XP. I'd also suggest resetting your systems CMOS to the factory preset before booting the system for the first time with the newly formatted HD.

If you have a problem with the BIOS setting the drive up, make certain that "1" the bios auto HDD is set to auto and if that doesnt work get the drive parameters off from the HD, they will be on a label.

You'll need Cyclinders / Heads / Sectors

I'd be a little concerned though if the drive is not ID'd automatically that…

1.) There is an error in the BIOS (check for an update) or
2.) There is a problem with the firmware on the actual hard drive. (check with the HD manufacturer for a firmware update).

Bottom line so far? If the RC doesnt fix the problem then the file is crapped, you can try to manually restore the file. But this is dependant on the disk format and the version of XP you have.

Try going to the RC and navigating to…

D:\WINDOWS\system32\config

Delete software (no file extension) then rename software.sav to software (again no file extension)

from that directory type…

del(space)software (hit enter)
ren(space)software.sav(space)software (hit enter)

See if that restores the last working file...
 

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