Problem with Registry?

My daughter just brought me her laptop. She has problems. Was running this with no protection.
WindowsXP Pro it is a Dell. she called them and they said needs new hard drive.
When you bootup computer, brings you to scrren that says windows was not shut down properly. so, I clicked on to start at last known configuration.
This is what it says
STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
Registry cannot load the hive (file)
\SystemRoot\System32\config\SOFTWARE
then
Beginning dump of physical memory.
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact System Administration or Tech support for further assistance.

Anything I can do to help this computer??????????

 

See if this will help:

http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_repair_a_stop.htm

 

Thank you. She left the CDs at her house, so I guess I can't do much tonight. I printed out the directions and sent them back with her and her laptop. She is going to try it herself.

I'll let you know how it goes.
Thanks again!!!!....When she called Dell all they told her was she needed new harddrive and she would lose all her files on there.

 

Here's another link you can check out and see if it helps:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us

hopperdave2000

 

Thank you for the information. She is going to be trying to repair it this morning.

 

My daughter just called me. Even with putting in the cd, it is going to the same error. She does not get any options from the d. any ideas on how to get it to read the cd? She is going to bring me it some time today, with the CDs, so I can try to repair it.

 

Most laptops are not setup to boot to a cd, unless you were to change it in the bios.

Or, there should be an option to boot to another device, via a (F)unction key, typically F10.

 

Hitting F10 does nothing. It always goes back to the screen saying about the error. Any other options to try to get CD to run?

 

I am now in her computer. Looking at bootup, shows Cd drive as number 4. Is there any way to change it to 1, so it would run the cd?

 

There should be a list of keys to change the number. Perhaps the page up and page down, or + and - keys.

The above is just an example.

Edit: Lo and behold, I see behind me a dell laptop D600. As soon as I can, I'll check to see if I can get more info for ye.

BTW, it appears that the "u" and the "d" keys is what moves the drive boot order.

 

Instead of using the bios, use the F12 key at the dell logo on boot, to access the boot menu.

 

Thanks for your help. Thought we were getting it fixed, but would not accept the command
copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
There has been another it wouldn't take, but we rebooted and got that one accepted. Was going to try the same with this command, but her battery died (and, of course, she didn't bring the adapter with her!!!! KIDS!)
A friend of hers is going to bring her adapter over later, so I'll try it again.

 

Within the recovery console, did you first try:

chkdsk c: /r

?

 

Just did chkdsk but it said disk looked fine, and asked if we wanted to check it anyways. Should I try it as you have it with the r?

 

Always say yes (or type rather ) with the chkdsk.

I use the /r option, which implies /f. Instead of just 3 checks, it does 5. But, it can take awhile.

I've seen on occasioin, that the chkdsk fixes your issue.

 

OK thx so much. When I can get it plugged in, I will try that first. She is at work now, lives 40 miles away, but her friend is going to bring me an adapter in a few hours.

 

Well, in a couple hours, I'll be back home, hopefully with a shiny new boardgame.

 

Lucky you!!!!!!!
I'll probably still be waiting for the adapter...........lol

 

Well, I am back at it this morning. Ran the chkdsk c: /r
It took a long time and repaired some things. But, it still won't accept the command I typed ^ there.
So, I am running chkdsk again? Might it find more now to fix? I know some things you need to run a few times, as they fix different things as others get fixed. Does this go back and start over after fixing things, or do I need to run it until it finds no errors?

 

Well, I am very frustrated. it did the chkdsk again, and so I tried to type in the commands. It is telling me it can't find the
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak

Am I stuck now?
Anything else i can try?

 

When computer is booting up to the recovery console, there is an option for automated recovery. Would this be an option, or does that do a complete recovery and wipe everything out?

 

I know I am a pain if anyone is reading this, but I have one more question.
I was doing some searching on the web for help and found something saying I could instead of repair a tthe recovery console, start out like I was doing a fresh install, then when it found a previous version I could just go back to that?
Hope you understand what I mean and someone could answer this for me.
I really want to fix this for my daughter without her losing everything.
Thanks

 

Well, I admit I'm really busy, and have to leave soon, but I just noticed you've asked for help and are still waiting for a reply (never a good thing on a weekend, when family duties become priorities), so I'll put this information into the ether, and hope it helps you.

I'd like to suggest that you read the following articles; yes, you'll be doing a fair amount of reading, but I think the information provided can really help you with this. I'm not saying that either article will solve your problems, or even come close, but they might help clarify a few things for you, and help you through some of the more difficult steps as you try to resolve these issues.

Link to the first article:

http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=185301251

Link to the second article:

http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189400897

Take your time, and read through that information, several times if need be; chances are good that you'll soon have a better grasp of the magnitude of what you're trying to accomplish.

Good luck with this; I'll try to check back sometime later tonight or tomorrow; hopefully, these articles will help to answer some of your questions, and maybe even point you in the right direction.

Please keep us posted on your progress, and remember to ask questions if something isn't clear. You might have to wait awhile for help, but, I've been told that patience is a virtue... weekend chores dominate my "free time" right now, and I'm sure I'm not the only one in that situation today.

 

Well, I decided to try the install/repair.
When it got to the part where it searches for previous installation it did not find Windows XP. This is what it showed me.
-artition 1 [FAT] 47 MB 39 MB FREE
Cartition2[NTFS] 55984MB 3558 MB FREE
Dartition3[NIFS] 17218MB 2749MB FREE
Fartition4[FAT32] 3632MB 228MB FREE

When I clicked on C it says chosen to install Windows XP on a partition that contains another OS. Installing Windows XP on this partition might cause the other OS to function improperly.
Caution: Installing multiple OS on a single partition is NOT recommended.

So...............?
I am thnking at this point, she might have to just go with a new harddrive?

 

Judging by those numbers you've posted, the C: drive is about 60 GB in size, but there is only ~3.5 GB of free space on it, which is BAD news. Microsoft claims that Windows needs at least ~15% of the drive to be empty to function properly, though 25% free space is better. If those values are correct, the C: drive has only ~5% of free space on it; I'm amazed that the system booted at all...

The most immediate problem you seem to have right now is that you need to make some more room on the C: drive, but since Windows won't boot...

One option that I've used in the past is to remove the laptop harddrive, and install it as a slave into a desktop system. Doing this requires a special adapter (sells for about $10 US) that will allow a laptop harddrive to attach to a desktop IDE cable.

If you can slave the laptop HDD to a desktop system, you should then be able to boot the desktop system, and use Windows Explorer to move about 12 GB of non-essential files off of the laptop HDD. That would leave you with ~15 GB of free space on the laptop HDD, which is about 25% free space...

This is an example of the type of device which will connect a 2.5" laptop HDD to a standard desktop IDE cable:

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=906&sku=17705

SOME laptop harddrives will NOT work with that adapter; some laptop drives are 1.8", rather than 2.5", so you need to be SURE to get the correct adapter for your particular laptop HDD...

This article will provide more details about how to physically make the connection from the laptop HDD to the desktop IDE cable:

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5102-6255-5160538.html

I hope this information helps you; until you do some serious housekeeping on that laptop HDD, I sincerely doubt you'll be able to boot the laptop into Windows at all...

Whatever you do, please do NOT continue trying to repair the C: drive. Deal with the free space issues FIRST, then you just might be able to boot the laptop into Windows again.

 

I am confused now. One person tells me NOT to mess with the C drive again until I get some free space.
Another tells me to tyy a repair I haven't tried.
What to do? What to do?
I have talked to my daughter and found out from her that she has put tons of songs on her laptop. Copied many many Cds from friends.

 

If you check the times that TimW and I each posted, you'll see that he was probably typing his advice while I was posting, so it is likely that he never noticed my advice to you. I can only guess that he overlooked the amount of free space showing on the hard drive partitions, which is easy enough to do.

Think of it this way; Windows requires a certain amount of "elbow room" in order to bootup, and also to manage Windows once it loads. I've seen hard drives with only about 9% of free space actually load Windows (though they didn't work too well), but I've NEVER seen a hard drive that could boot into Windows when it is as choked and clogged with data as yours is.

Sorry to say, you are a LONG way from here (more than 1200+ miles), so I can't just drive over there to help you with this. The odds are good that once you DO make some more room on the C: drive, that you will be able to fix the OTHER problems you've encountered pretty quickly, but I REALLY doubt ANY fix will work until you FIRST clear some space from the C: drive. Better yet, clear space from ALL of those partitions, keeping in mind that (according to Microsoft), 15% is the MINIMUM amount of free space you'll need on the bootable partition, which (of course), is the C: drive.

Once you've done that, you MIGHT be able to boot into Windows normally again, though I wouldn't be willing to put money on that just yet...

I fully realize just how confusing this must be for you, so feel free to try the method that TimW has pointed you to. I've done that same step-by-step process a few times, and it has worked for me each time, BUT, I was working with drives that had at LEAST 20% of the drive space unused. You just might be able to get Windows to work long enough to delete some of the music files your daughter copied onto the hard drive, but don't be surprised if you STILL can't get Windows to work after following each of those steps.

The bottom line is, I STILL think you're going to have to clear some space off the C: partition BEFORE you'll be able to boot into Windows again, no matter what else you might do to the harddrive in the meantime. Windows creates a LOT of temporary files during the bootup process, and without providing the necessary amount of free space for those temp files, you're not going to make much progress at resolving this... Again, I suggest you make room on ALL of the partitions, not just the C: drive, but start with the C: partition so you can at least make the repairs to the system and boot into Windows once again...

We're actually trying to help you, and NO one wants to confuse you; system repair can be nerve-wracking even WITHOUT conflicting advice...

Try the method TimW provided the link to, and let us know how things turn out. If things work out so that you CAN boot into Windows, I URGE you to start deleting some of those music folders, even though I imagine your daughter won't be too happy about it. Since the C: partition is about 60 GB total, you should try to clear off a total of ~15 GB, which will provide MORE room than Windows expects to have, and that will allow your daughter some extra room for more important data than those music files...

As a last resort, if you'd like to discuss this, PM me, including a phone number where I can reach you later today, and I'll call you when I return. I've been repairing PCs for several years now (got my first PC in 1993), and I can only imagine how stressful this is for you...

Good luck with this; I have errands to run now, so I'll be going offline again for a few hours, but I'll do my best to check this thread again within 3 to 4 hours from the time I post this.

 

Thank you for the patience and advice you are giving me. I do understand about needing more space for things to run. I did talk to my daughter, chewed her out about all the songs, etc. She now has to decide what she wants to do. Tryy slaving it to my desktop, or lose it all. Hopefully she calls me back soon.
Thanks again.
I'll keep posting on what she/we decide to do and how it goes.

 

I did try the fix timw posted, but it didn't help. Went thru all the steps, but when it booted up, still shows it can't find the config.
So.............now it is up to my daughter if she wants to try slaving it over to my desktop. She would have to see where she could get the adapter.
Her options are dwindling....lol She does have other data on this laptop. School work, too, not just songs. She has some of the school work on a jump drive, so might not lose much besides the songs.
Dell already sent her a new harddrive, so she might just install that.

 

ahhh