Unable to boot into windows XP after blackout

[Sousuke]

I got home today to find that my main computer, shut down automatically (or at least, was supposed to) by my APC power backup software due to a blackout.

On restarting the computer, I cannot load Win XP anymore, giving me this message:

"Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\DEFAULT
or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent or not writable."

I tried booting into safe mode, but hit the file \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\d347bus.sys
where it would pause and give "Press Esc to skip loading the abovefile", after which the computer would reboot itself. Starting the computer normally results in it self-rebooting after the windows load screen.

Is it pretty much screwed and I should reformat/reinstall everything, or is there anything I can do? The OS is on its own partition so reformatting is possible, but the hassle of it all (during a rather crucial time period for me) is putting me off for the moment.

[ktkendall]

You can just bot from the XP cdrom and do a repair install. You'll have to do all your updates all over again after that also including SP2.

[Sousuke]

In terms of programs and settings, would everything be back to normal? (trying it now)

Since the XP cd i'm using has SP2, I guess that would reduce the amount of re-updates I have to do..

[ktkendall]

Yes you should be good up to SP 2 then. You go in just like your going to do a fresh install and after scanning your HD it will detect the previous installation of XP and ask you if you want to do a repair install. Select yes, and then it will fix XP for U. Yes you will retain everything you had, which you do not have to worry about anyways since you have XP on it's own partition, but even if you did not it would fix XP and save all your programs, settings and data.

[Sousuke]

Okay.. I tried doing the repair installation, but at the end of it there's yet another error:

"Setup cannot set the required Windows XP configuration information. This indicates an internal Setup error.

Contact your system administrator"

Things not looking so good anymore?

[Statica]

That error is usually indicative of a hardware failure. Are you sure that you havent lost any hardware during the power failure. Given that you would rather try to recover your existing installation of Windows .. I'd recommend trying to remove non-essential hardware and see if you can get Windows up and running.
Regarding the d347bus.sys did you have a virtual CD/DVD drive set up? Like Daemon Tools etc?

[Sousuke]

Yes, I did have Daemon Tools set up.

I'll remove the other USB stuff and try again tomorrow morning..

[ITlover]

Originally Posted by Sousuke In terms of programs and settings, would everything be back to normal? (trying it now) Since the XP cd i'm using has SP2, I guess that would reduce the amount of re-updates I have to do..

Repair Install actually repairs or replaces the corrupt files which improves the performance of your system. It doesnot effect your programs folder and documents folder.

[ITlover]

the error messege that he has quoted when he booted his computer in safe mode seems to indicate that their is something wrong with the driver of a hardware device but what I am little puzzled at is if their would have been a hardware issue, then the computer would have booted in safe mode, but he is even having problem booting his computer in safe mode.

Can anyone pls explain how come he is having problem booting his computer in safe mode if their is hardware isse?

[Statica]

ITlover: The error message during repair is indicative of a hardware failure... not necessary but generally the case as reported by the MS KB. d347bus.sys refers to a daemon tools error.


Sousuke: have you tried using the Recovery Console to rename d347bus.sys and to disable the daemon tools service? You could use listsvc to list the services that are set to start. Then use DISABLE servicename to disable nonessential services. Then try to boot to safemode. The URL for Recovery Console explains the available commands and syntax in greater detail.

[Sousuke]

Well.. seems like no luck with the Recovery console either. What are the typical hardware failures that could cause this? On hindsight I have failed to reboot on occasion recently, but was never quite sure of the reason.

[glc]

Ram or hard drive. You can run diagnostics on both from bootdisks.

www.memtest.org

Hard drive diags from the hard drive manufacturer.

[Sousuke]

Ram seems to be fine, after 2 passes of memtest86+. (is that enough?)

I can't seem to run the HDD diagnostic though. On loading the screen becomes garbled... In any case, I have given up trying to recover my programs and will reinstall everything fresh again.. If anything happens again I guess it would have to be the hard disks..