registry file failure - please help

[justme123]

i have a dell inspiron 5100 notebook and am having trouble. When I boot up it says windows did not start properly last time and gives me the option to start it in safe mode and two others. no matter which one i choose it goes to a screen that says...

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

----- I made a boot disk on another working dell and can get in to what i think is the recovery console; although it looks a lot like dos. That is where I am stuck, I was wondering if there was a way to run system restore from there or anything I can do. Any help is greatly appreciated thank you.

 

[The Hound]

Yes, the recovery console does look quite a bit like DOS. Different commands available and not available, though.

Try typing chkdsk /r and pressing enter.

Let us know the result, and if you can then boot to Windows-probably not, but we'll rule out the drive as the cause.

Here's a MS Knowledge base guide to troubleshooting this message...They say it's probably either hardware, software, or external environment (power outage, etc.) related. Great help...

 

[Elvandil]

How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting

 

[justme123]

Elvandil - will doing this cause me to lose any files?

 

[Elvandil]

No. All your files will be there. Some things may be missing from the registry that you have added recently, but that is better than losing everything.

 

[justme123]

thank you i should have time to mess with it today i will let you know the outcome. also, any idea why this could have happened or what i can do to protect myself in the future?

 

[Elvandil]

No idea. It could have been a disk error. Run chkdsk /p while you are in the Recovery Console.

 

[justme123]

Okay, for some reason I am able to get into windows and do what ever I like...for 5-10 min. afterwards the laptop shuts off. i tried letting it charge for a wile and also with the cord plugged in. is this a software issue or am i looking at a bad battery?