R50 problem

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ranchmom5 · #1 Post by **ranchmom5** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 2:25 pm

My son took his R50 on vacation. It was loading fine before we left but when he tried to log on after travels, it came up with a screen that said it shut down improperly the previous time and gave choices for how to load Windows - normally, safe mode, last known configuration,etc. It doesn't matter which you pick, it goes to the Windows screen and then to a blue screen that says the following:
*******************************

STOP: C0000218 Registry File Failure. 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.
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My guess is this is a complete crash???? Is there anyway to salvage what was on the HDD or is it gone? What is the next step to take?

Thanks,
Sharon

BeeJayEmm · #2 Post by **BeeJayEmm** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 3:37 pm

Sharon,
I used our friend Google and this error message can indicate Windows had a hiccup at shutdown, as you noted, among other causes. At least part of the registry is corrupt but data files should probably (hopefully) be unaffected. I saw several methods to solve the issue but not all work on an OEM-loaded OS, which I assume describes your son's R50. Try searching or wait for reinforcements. Good luck and please post back any progress.

Brian

ranchmom5 · #3 Post by **ranchmom5** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 3:50 pm

I hadn't thought of searching on Google!

I really haven't had much time to think about the whole problem, but ds keeps asking if I've made any progress. My first thought was to come here to all the "experts". I am in the middle of something else right now so am praying some of them will stop by and give me the solution. If not, I will definitely do some googling later!

aaa · #4 Post by **aaa** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:27 pm

The error message actually spelled out the possibilities, for once. "It is corrupt, absent or not writable. " So either the registry somehow got corrupt (needing a Windows reinstall) or in case of "not writable" the hard drive is dead and you need a new one.

If it's just corruption salvage should be pretty easy. Just reinstall Windows while making sure to skip the formatting step that erases everything.

ranchmom5 · #5 Post by **ranchmom5** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:38 pm

I don't have a Windows XP disk but do have the 6 R&R Cds from IBM. Also, in "Access IBM" there is an option for "restore factory settings". Would that work? He would like to rescue his music files but there isn't that much else important on the HDD

#6 Post by **ZaZ** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:19 pm

You can buy an external case for the hard drive, pull it from the R50 then dump it onto another PC. They probably run about $10 on the internet. It's usually a good idea to have a backup of anything you don't want to lose.

BeeJayEmm · #7 Post by **BeeJayEmm** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:05 pm

From my cursory reading of the threads linked from Google, a Windows reinstall may not be necessary, if this is not a hardware issue. According to Microsoft, there may be a way to fix it using the XP Recovery Console. There were also threads that offered other solutions.

May we assume that there is not a recent backup of this R50 available? That of course would be the easiest solution. If you don't have a backup strategy in place, here's a great opportunity to come up with one, even if some of the horses have left the barn. Mr. Garvin's suggestion is a good one for trying to rescue whatever you need from the drive in case you need to then start from scratch.

R50 problem

R50 problem

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