Registry Cannot load the file - HELP!! 1

[gardau]

When I start up my desktop, I get the following msg on a blue screen.

STOP: C0000218 {Registry file failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\Sam
or it's log or alternative.
It is corrupt, absent, or not writable.

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump compoewte
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do???

 

[stduc]

You didn't say what you did before this happened. Did you get any errors or not shut down the PC?

It sounds like corruption on your HDD. This could be for a number of reasons including the drive going bad.

Personally I would check the hard drive using Spinrite from grc.com first. Then if that failed to fix it I would try 'last known good config' and if that failed I would use the recovery console. Main reason for using Spinrite is that it would give me a good idea on the state of health of the drive in general. So I could decide whether it is time to get a new one.

If I still couldn't get it to boot I would buy a new hard drive, re-install windows and mount the bad drive as a slave to get my data off.

This link gives good advice too - with the details I have missed out.

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