BleepingComputer.com: STOP: c0000218 {Registry file failure}

I had great success using this forum in Dec. 2008 when I had a virus on my laptop so I'm hopeful that it will be helpful again today.

This morning I had to manually turn off my laptop after the touch pad stopped responding. When I restarted I got this message:

STOP: c0000218 {Registry file failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\systemroot\system32\config\software
or it's alternate.
It is corrupt, absent, or not writable.

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete



I still have the Windows Recovery Console installed on my laptop from Dec. when I had the virus. I'm not sure exactly how to proceed though. I'm using WinXP.

Any help would be great appreciated! I'd like to save as much from my laptop as possible - some pics and docs I have not backed up recently (though thankfully it's not a great amount since I backed everything up after the virus in Dec.).

THANK YOU!!!

A look at what Microsoft says: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822705.

Louis

I ALWAYS do this by connecting the drive to a working computer AND first verifying that the drive is OK with the free version of http://www.hdtune.com ; but, in the "System Volume Information" folder are backups of your registry and here is how to do the recovery: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

After going to Microsofts website, I tried the fix found on this page: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830084

Specifically I ran the Recovery Console and then DSKCHK /r, followed by a reboot and I was able to get into my laptop via safe mode. I haven't tried regular mode yet, I'm running a virus scan and retrieving documents etc. first in case there is another error.

I'm hoping this fixed my problem and I won't have anymore problems but I wanted to let others know what I did in case they receive the same error message.