Friend's PC Not Booting - Help Please

[NathanM]

My friend and I were attempting to network our PCs (he has a HP Pavilion dv1411se Laptop) so we could play a game together. After we had completed the network wizard, he restarted. Upon booting, when he got past the Windows XP loading screen, it would just freeze at a black screen instead of popping up the username and password box. We tried taking out the ethernet cable, taking out cdrom disks, safe mode (which oddly brings up a bunch of messages beginning with "multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\LotsofFiles.sys")

I honestly don't know what is going on or how this occured, but it seems like a very serious problem since we can't even get into the PC. Help please! Thanks.

Edit: Also, I don't know if this will be any help, but he let it sit at the black screen where you can pick several boot options and eventually it popped up a BSOD with:

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.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.

 

[MrCoffee]

load recovery console, replace reg hives with default backup versions, load windows in safe mode, load recent restore point.

Guide

 

[Osiris]

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

 

[NathanM]

Okay, I attempted to use the recovery console by following the instructions exactly as written. I made sure there were no typos (so that's out of the question), but at first it said the software.bak couldn't be found when I was copying. I made sure there were no typos and even tried again to no avail. I followed the rest of the instructions making sure there were absolutely no typos and got a delete error on a couple. After I was done and typed exit, I was prompted that:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

I went back into recovery and tried everything the guide said but nothing would work. So, I feel that this may be a big problem. What's next to do? :\

Keep in mind, I'm sure I didn't make any typographical mistakes while following the instructions, so something was already messed up obviously.

 

[Osiris]

XP Repair install

Please read carefully and make sure you followed the warning links before initiating the Repair Install. You can print a text version for reference. repair.txt

Boot the computer using the XP CD. You may need to change the boot order in the system BIOS so the CD boots before the hard drive. Check your system documentation for steps to access the BIOS and change the boot order.
When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below
This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

Press Enter to start the Windows Setup. do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R", (you Do Not want to load Recovery Console). I repeat, do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R".
Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.
Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair. If Repair is not one of the options, END setup. After the reboot read Warning#2!
Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot. Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact.

 

[NathanM]

Thanks again Warez Monster, I'll be doing that the next time I see my friend. If it doesn't work, it looks like we'll just reformat and reinstall XP.