[deanne]

I am running windows XP professional. No changes have been made recently with computer. I just had a Internet Explorer window open when it started to make disturbing noise, like it is trying to read a really bad CD, then it froze, and I shut it off and the next time I went to boot it up I get these messages:

First the screen comes up with the message "We apologize for the inconvenience but windows did not start successfully..." And you have the options of starting in safe mode, starting from the last successful configuration or starting normally. Regardless of which choice picked, the next screen is the blue screen with the following message:

"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."

Please help me!! I am lost... Is it possible to retrieve my files and then reformat?

Thank you guys...

[Spencer2004]

well if it made that noise it probally means that your hard drive has just failed or something. first try repairing xp with the xp disk that should of came with your computer and if that dosent work you will need a new hard drive.

[philthomas]

Yep it sounds like the Hard Drive has failed.

You could try booting with the XP Disk and when prompted select Repair or Recover, press R.
At the command prompt, type chkdsk /r, and then press ENTER

This may take a little while, so be patient, but it will confirm whether your drive is good or bad.

[deanne]

I tried to repair it using the XP CD but it seems it doesnt want to read the CD. My cdrw had been acting retarded... do you think it will be able to read from an external CDrom (USB port)?

[philthomas]

You may need to go into bios and change the boot sequence, to make the CD the first boot device.