Windows XP Pro Will Not Boot

Renée · January 6th, 2002, 10:48 PM

I get the following error on startup...

[quote]STOP: c0000218 {Reigstry 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 writable.<hr></blockquote>

It does go through its disk check procedure first, and I do get the startup options screen, but no matter what startup option I choose, whether safe mode, safe with command, last good configuration, whatever...it still gives me this error when it tries to load.

I tried to put the XP installation cd in and tell the BIOS to boot from the CD, but it doesn't do it. The CD spins, but the boot process just continues on to the hard drive.

I've had XP Pro on this laptop for about three months now with no problems at all. I haven't used it for the past two weeks, and when I start it up for the first time today, it just does this right off. I asked my husband if he'd been using it, and sure enough...he downloaded and installed a Nero demo to burn some CD's, which he did successfully. However, he said he had not had the above problem at all, that this was the first time he had seen it.

I couldn't find a thing in the MS Knowledge Base that was helpful. I'm downloading a boot disk from <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseid=33291" target="_blank">here</a> to try with my USB floppy drive, but I don't really know much about XP and don't want to do anything that will really screw me up here.

If it helps, I'm using a Fujitsu Lifebook E Series with a factory built-in CD-RW drive (if that's even significant).

Advice, please! Anybody else seen this? Any ideas? I desperately need this laptop for classes tomorrow, but I'm not going to do anything until I hear from you guys...

Gameguru · January 7th, 2002, 01:19 AM

When you boot from CD, it should have a statement after the BIOS does its thing that says "Press any key to boot from cd". If you don't press a key, it will continue to boot from the HD. If you don't have that option, then set your first boot device to boot from floppy(if you can...may be USB since that is what you are using) and make floppys from <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q310994" target="_blank">here</a>. You may also want to read up on the recovery console <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q307654" target="_blank">here</a>.

Sorry the reply is so late but I'm working from 8pm to 8am the next week or so.

Ya_know · January 7th, 2002, 10:20 AM

You are not kidding when you say the the KB is little help. First try, this was all that I found: <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q104203" target="_blank">Err Msg: STOP: C0000218 ...Registry Cannot Load the Hive (Q104203)</a> , it is for a slightly older version of NT than XP.

After banging around I located this article:<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q156640" target="_blank">How to Troubleshoot a STOP 0xC0000218 Error Message (Q156640)</a> . Does anything here, or previously posted help out? Give us a progress update when you can...If you are not comfortable with the repair process of XP, look over the KB for more information. There are plenty of How To:'s

Ya_know · January 7th, 2002, 10:30 AM

I forgot to comment on this, both articles refer to hardware issues. The first is about HCL, the second stated that bad sectors on a HDD could cause this same problem. If that is the case, you may want to do your best to get the data off of the drive, and LLF, or just replace the drive. (Again, that is only if it turns out to be a bad drive). A simple Laptop HDD to IDE converter can be had for less then $10 and can be used to copy data from the drive to a conventional desktop.

Renée · January 7th, 2002, 10:32 AM

[quote]Originally posted by Ya_know:
<strong>You are not kidding when you say the the KB is little help. First try, this was all that I found: <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q104203" target="_blank">Err Msg: STOP: C0000218 ...Registry Cannot Load the Hive (Q104203)</a> , it is for a slightly older version of NT than XP.

After banging around I located this article:<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q156640" target="_blank">How to Troubleshoot a STOP 0xC0000218 Error Message (Q156640)</a> . Does anything here, or previously posted help out? Give us a progress update when you can...If you are not comfortable with the repair process of XP, look over the KB for more information. There are plenty of How To:'s</strong><hr></blockquote>

Wow, I didn't even come up with those articles when I searched...probably because I only searched in XP topics. Shoulda known not to do that.

Is there any reason to think Nero would have caused such a tragedy? Just curious.

I'm gonna read some more right now...will come back before I do anything...thanks for the references, both of you....

Renée · January 7th, 2002, 11:15 AM

I can't get it to boot from the CD-RW to save my life. I set it as the priority drive in the BIOS, and it spins as if it wants to be read, but then the boot process just goes around it every time.

If I try to load from last known good configuration, the same error happens again. If I try to load into Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Command Prompt, a slightly different thing happens every time...the system starts loading in SYS files and halts on the following one:

Windows/System32/Drivers/agp440.sys

It just sits there for about two minutes with the HDD grinding here and there. Then it loops back around to do the disk check, and once that's done (always finds no errors), it just produces the same STOP error and we're back to square one.

I'm going to try and round up six floppies now to make that set of boot disks and boot from the floppy drive. *sigh*

In the meantime, I'm checking back here for any additional ideas if the new info I posted gave you any...

Renée · January 7th, 2002, 11:22 AM

OMG...apparently a bunch of other people are having this same problem...

<a href="http://www.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/21602.html" target="_blank">http://www.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/21602.html</a>

<a href="http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/n1007924225" target="_blank">http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/n1007924225</a>

<a href="http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x94d09200caded5118ff40090279cd0f9,00.html" target="_blank">http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x94d09200caded5118ff40090279cd0f9,00. html</a>

<a href="http://www.quickbase.com/db/6v74ue7a?a=dr&r=bk9&z=hmin&rl=guh3&rx=b9" target="_blank">http://www.quickbase.com/db/6v74ue7a?a=dr&r=bk9&z=hmin&rl=guh3&rx=b9</a>

<a href="http://www.bp6.com/discus/messages/124/997.html" target="_blank">http://www.bp6.com/discus/messages/124/997.html</a>

Great. And none of them have solutions, either. HEEEELLLLLLPPPPP MEEEEEEE!!!

Ya_know · January 7th, 2002, 12:01 PM

Don't panic. It seems as though you are going to have to run the repair from the boot floppies as you stated. That is all right, it will just take longer to boot from them then one CD, but it is the same process. Once there, look over the options from the articles, and give them a try. I think you just hit a speed bump with the booting from the CDRom...you will get through this.

Renée · January 19th, 2002, 02:08 AM

Okay, now that I've actually had time to get back to this lovely project...

I made the XP boot disks, but when I insert disk 1 and turn on the computer, it accesses the floppy drive like it should, a message comes up saying "setup is now checking your computer's hardware configuration" and it sits there on the screen for about a minute. Then the system resets itself (as in, a power flicker), and the process starts again. This is all it will do with the floppies -- just endless iterations of "checking the hardware configuration" and resetting itself. I let it go for a good half hour just to be reeeeeeeeeeal sure.

Now, if I try to boot into safe mode through the HDD instead of the floppy, I get the same hang when agp440.sys tries to load, but then I get a new "UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" error screen. Restarting gets me the same thing repeatedly.

Any new ideas?

Sowulo · January 19th, 2002, 02:59 PM

Sorry, I didn't notice if your drive is formatted in NTFS of FAT32. For FAT32, you can get your system back up and running by booting to a floppy and then copying the contents of c:\windows\repair to c:\windows\system32\config.

If NTFS you will need to boot to the XP CD and run "repair using recovery console" and then do the copying I already described.

This should get you back into a bootable Windows. At this point your apps won't work as this only restores your original registry and such. However, you may now be able to use the system saver function and find a recent restore point that will restore the registry to a more recent state and therefore save yourself having to reinstall your apps too....PM me if you need more help with my descriptions....

Curt

Renée · January 19th, 2002, 11:09 PM

I should have said I upgraded to XP from ME. I didn't switch to NTFS during the upgrade and never got around to it before this happened, so I still have FAT32. I haven't had this laptop very long. If it requires booting from the XP floppy, I can't do it!

Sowulo · January 19th, 2002, 11:18 PM

[quote]Originally posted by Renée:
<strong>I should have said I upgraded to XP from ME. I didn't switch to NTFS during the upgrade and never got around to it before this happened, so I still have FAT32. I haven't had this laptop very long. If it requires booting from the XP floppy, I can't do it!</strong><hr></blockquote>

As long as it's FAT32 you can boot to any bootable floppy (a WIN98 floppy is what I use) and then follow the instructions I gave in my last post. The FAT32 recovery is sooo much easier and I've seen this problem sooo many times that I no longer even consider NTFS for my clients. (I do use it on my own though)

Renée · January 20th, 2002, 12:42 AM

Well, I was able to boot with the Win98 floppy. Copied all files from c:\windows\repair to c:\windows\system32\config with no problem at all.

BUT...when I try to reboot normally in XP (I tried "last known good configuration" first), I still get the damnable UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error.

(BTW...thanks so much for helping me with this!)

Sowulo · January 20th, 2002, 01:09 AM

k. Now you may need to boot to the XP CD and select the "repair using recovery console". Once at a c: prompt I would try the fixboot command. Type Help at the C: prompt to get a complete list of commands available.

Renée · January 20th, 2002, 03:29 AM

Gonna try it tomorrow or Monday, as soon as I have time. I'll let you know how it goes...

January 6th, 2002, 10:48 PM	#1
Renée Registered User Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: USA Posts: 696	Windows XP Pro Will Not Boot I get the following error on startup... [quote]STOP: c0000218 {Reigstry 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 writable.<hr></blockquote> It does go through its disk check procedure first, and I do get the startup options screen, but no matter what startup option I choose, whether safe mode, safe with command, last good configuration, whatever...it still gives me this error when it tries to load. I tried to put the XP installation cd in and tell the BIOS to boot from the CD, but it doesn't do it. The CD spins, but the boot process just continues on to the hard drive. I've had XP Pro on this laptop for about three months now with no problems at all. I haven't used it for the past two weeks, and when I start it up for the first time today, it just does this right off. I asked my husband if he'd been using it, and sure enough...he downloaded and installed a Nero demo to burn some CD's, which he did successfully. However, he said he had not had the above problem at all, that this was the first time he had seen it. I couldn't find a thing in the MS Knowledge Base that was helpful. I'm downloading a boot disk from <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?releaseid=33291" target="_blank">here</a> to try with my USB floppy drive, but I don't really know much about XP and don't want to do anything that will really screw me up here. If it helps, I'm using a Fujitsu Lifebook E Series with a factory built-in CD-RW drive (if that's even significant). Advice, please! Anybody else seen this? Any ideas? I desperately need this laptop for classes tomorrow, but I'm not going to do anything until I hear from you guys...

January 7th, 2002, 01:19 AM	#2
Gameguru Registered User Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Sumter, SC Posts: 572	When you boot from CD, it should have a statement after the BIOS does its thing that says "Press any key to boot from cd". If you don't press a key, it will continue to boot from the HD. If you don't have that option, then set your first boot device to boot from floppy(if you can...may be USB since that is what you are using) and make floppys from <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q310994" target="_blank">here</a>. You may also want to read up on the recovery console <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q307654" target="_blank">here</a>. Sorry the reply is so late but I'm working from 8pm to 8am the next week or so. __________________ Note: To correct display problems, hold the "ALT"key and press"F4".

January 19th, 2002, 02:59 PM	#10
Sowulo Registered User Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: Clackamas, OR USA Posts: 5,422	Sorry, I didn't notice if your drive is formatted in NTFS of FAT32. For FAT32, you can get your system back up and running by booting to a floppy and then copying the contents of c:\windows\repair to c:\windows\system32\config. If NTFS you will need to boot to the XP CD and run "repair using recovery console" and then do the copying I already described. This should get you back into a bootable Windows. At this point your apps won't work as this only restores your original registry and such. However, you may now be able to use the system saver function and find a recent restore point that will restore the registry to a more recent state and therefore save yourself having to reinstall your apps too....PM me if you need more help with my descriptions.... Curt __________________ "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges."

January 19th, 2002, 11:18 PM	#12
Sowulo Registered User Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: Clackamas, OR USA Posts: 5,422	[quote]Originally posted by Renée: <strong>I should have said I upgraded to XP from ME. I didn't switch to NTFS during the upgrade and never got around to it before this happened, so I still have FAT32. I haven't had this laptop very long. If it requires booting from the XP floppy, I can't do it!</strong><hr></blockquote> As long as it's FAT32 you can boot to any bootable floppy (a WIN98 floppy is what I use) and then follow the instructions I gave in my last post. The FAT32 recovery is sooo much easier and I've seen this problem sooo many times that I no longer even consider NTFS for my clients. (I do use it on my own though) __________________ "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges."

January 20th, 2002, 01:09 AM	#14
Sowulo Registered User Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: Clackamas, OR USA Posts: 5,422	k. Now you may need to boot to the XP CD and select the "repair using recovery console". Once at a c: prompt I would try the fixboot command. Type Help at the C: prompt to get a complete list of commands available. __________________ "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges."

January 7th, 2002, 10:20 AM	#3
Ya_know Banned Join Date: Jun 2001 Posts: 10,692	You are not kidding when you say the the KB is little help. First try, this was all that I found: <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q104203" target="_blank">Err Msg: STOP: C0000218 ...Registry Cannot Load the Hive (Q104203)</a> , it is for a slightly older version of NT than XP. After banging around I located this article:<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q156640" target="_blank">How to Troubleshoot a STOP 0xC0000218 Error Message (Q156640)</a> . Does anything here, or previously posted help out? Give us a progress update when you can...If you are not comfortable with the repair process of XP, look over the KB for more information. There are plenty of How To:'s

January 7th, 2002, 10:30 AM	#4
Ya_know Banned Join Date: Jun 2001 Posts: 10,692	I forgot to comment on this, both articles refer to hardware issues. The first is about HCL, the second stated that bad sectors on a HDD could cause this same problem. If that is the case, you may want to do your best to get the data off of the drive, and LLF, or just replace the drive. (Again, that is only if it turns out to be a bad drive). A simple Laptop HDD to IDE converter can be had for less then $10 and can be used to copy data from the drive to a conventional desktop.

January 7th, 2002, 10:32 AM	#5
Renée Registered User Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: USA Posts: 696	[quote]Originally posted by Ya_know: <strong>You are not kidding when you say the the KB is little help. First try, this was all that I found: <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q104203" target="_blank">Err Msg: STOP: C0000218 ...Registry Cannot Load the Hive (Q104203)</a> , it is for a slightly older version of NT than XP. After banging around I located this article:<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q156640" target="_blank">How to Troubleshoot a STOP 0xC0000218 Error Message (Q156640)</a> . Does anything here, or previously posted help out? Give us a progress update when you can...If you are not comfortable with the repair process of XP, look over the KB for more information. There are plenty of How To:'s</strong><hr></blockquote> Wow, I didn't even come up with those articles when I searched...probably because I only searched in XP topics. Shoulda known not to do that. Is there any reason to think Nero would have caused such a tragedy? Just curious. I'm gonna read some more right now...will come back before I do anything...thanks for the references, both of you....

January 7th, 2002, 11:15 AM	#6
Renée Registered User Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: USA Posts: 696	I can't get it to boot from the CD-RW to save my life. I set it as the priority drive in the BIOS, and it spins as if it wants to be read, but then the boot process just goes around it every time. If I try to load from last known good configuration, the same error happens again. If I try to load into Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Command Prompt, a slightly different thing happens every time...the system starts loading in SYS files and halts on the following one: Windows/System32/Drivers/agp440.sys It just sits there for about two minutes with the HDD grinding here and there. Then it loops back around to do the disk check, and once that's done (always finds no errors), it just produces the same STOP error and we're back to square one. I'm going to try and round up six floppies now to make that set of boot disks and boot from the floppy drive. sigh In the meantime, I'm checking back here for any additional ideas if the new info I posted gave you any...

January 7th, 2002, 11:22 AM	#7
Renée Registered User Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: USA Posts: 696	OMG...apparently a bunch of other people are having this same problem... <a href="http://www.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/21602.html" target="_blank">http://www.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/21602.html</a> <a href="http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/n1007924225" target="_blank">http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/n1007924225</a> <a href="http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x94d09200caded5118ff40090279cd0f9,00.html" target="_blank">http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x94d09200caded5118ff40090279cd0f9,00. html</a> <a href="http://www.quickbase.com/db/6v74ue7a?a=dr&r=bk9&z=hmin&rl=guh3&rx=b9" target="_blank">http://www.quickbase.com/db/6v74ue7a?a=dr&r=bk9&z=hmin&rl=guh3&rx=b9</a> <a href="http://www.bp6.com/discus/messages/124/997.html" target="_blank">http://www.bp6.com/discus/messages/124/997.html</a> Great. And none of them have solutions, either. HEEEELLLLLLPPPPP MEEEEEEE!!!

January 7th, 2002, 12:01 PM	#8
Ya_know Banned Join Date: Jun 2001 Posts: 10,692	Don't panic. It seems as though you are going to have to run the repair from the boot floppies as you stated. That is all right, it will just take longer to boot from them then one CD, but it is the same process. Once there, look over the options from the articles, and give them a try. I think you just hit a speed bump with the booting from the CDRom...you will get through this.

January 19th, 2002, 02:08 AM	#9
Renée Registered User Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: USA Posts: 696	Okay, now that I've actually had time to get back to this lovely project... I made the XP boot disks, but when I insert disk 1 and turn on the computer, it accesses the floppy drive like it should, a message comes up saying "setup is now checking your computer's hardware configuration" and it sits there on the screen for about a minute. Then the system resets itself (as in, a power flicker), and the process starts again. This is all it will do with the floppies -- just endless iterations of "checking the hardware configuration" and resetting itself. I let it go for a good half hour just to be reeeeeeeeeeal sure. Now, if I try to boot into safe mode through the HDD instead of the floppy, I get the same hang when agp440.sys tries to load, but then I get a new "UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME" error screen. Restarting gets me the same thing repeatedly. Any new ideas?

January 19th, 2002, 11:09 PM	#11
Renée Registered User Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: USA Posts: 696	I should have said I upgraded to XP from ME. I didn't switch to NTFS during the upgrade and never got around to it before this happened, so I still have FAT32. I haven't had this laptop very long. If it requires booting from the XP floppy, I can't do it!

January 20th, 2002, 12:42 AM	#13
Renée Registered User Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: USA Posts: 696	Well, I was able to boot with the Win98 floppy. Copied all files from c:\windows\repair to c:\windows\system32\config with no problem at all. BUT...when I try to reboot normally in XP (I tried "last known good configuration" first), I still get the damnable UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error. (BTW...thanks so much for helping me with this!)

January 20th, 2002, 03:29 AM	#15
Renée Registered User Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: USA Posts: 696	Gonna try it tomorrow or Monday, as soon as I have time. I'll let you know how it goes...

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