Microsoft KB Archive/314874

Knowledge Base

How to troubleshoot a Stop 0xC0000218 error

PSS ID Number: 314874

Article Last Modified on 5/10/2004

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The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional
• Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition

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This article was previously published under Q314874

SYMPTOMS

On your Windows-based computer, you may receive one of the following messages about a Stop error:

Stop 0xc0000218 (0xe11a30e8, 0x00000000, 0x000000000, 0x00000000)
UNKNOWN_HARD_ERROR

-or-

Stop: 0xc0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\SYSTEM or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent, or not writable.

The parameters in parentheses are specific to the system configuration and may vary.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if a necessary registry hive file cannot be loaded because the file is corrupted or missing. Registry files can be damaged because of hard disk corruption or some other hardware problem.

This behavior can also occur if the driver has damaged the registry data while loading into memory, or if the memory where the registry is loading has a parity error. In the latter case, turn off the external cache and check the memory chips.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this error, complete the following troubleshooting steps until the error no longer occurs:

1. Attempt to start the computer by using the "Load Last Known Good" configuration. To do this, when Windows loads, press the SPACEBAR when the Load Last Known Good message appears.
2. Restore the registry files by using Recovery Console.
   
   For additional information about how to restore the files by using Recovery Console, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   307545 How to recover from a corrupted registry

   You may have to change the boot order in the basic input/output system (BIOS) to start from the CD and to start the Recovery Console.
   
   For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   307654 How to install and use the Recovery Console for Windows XP

3. You may have to change the boot order in the basic input/output system (BIOS) to start from the CD and to start the Recovery Console. Complete a parallel installation, and then restore the registry files from a tape backup. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Reinstall Windows into a separate folder.
   2. Restore the registry hives that are found in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Config folder.
   3. If you do not have a tape backup, contact your administrator. The backup of network servers and production workstations is included as a critical part of running any production system.

   Note If Windows is stored on a partition that is formatted with the FAT file system, you can restore the files by using files from another computer and copying the registry hive files into the Windows folder.
   
   

4. You may have to change the boot order in the basic input/output system (BIOS) to start from the CD and to start the Recovery Console. If the Stop error message is caused by a hardware problem (for example, bad sectors on the hard drive), the drive may have to have low-level formatting, repartitioning, reformatting, and a restoration of the whole system from a tape backup to clear up the error. If the Stop error is caused by a physically bad sector, you must use low-level formatting to relocate the bad sector even though this is a drastic solution.

Keywords: kbhowto kbenv kberrmsg kbnetwork kbprb KB314874
Technology: kbWinXPHome kbWinXPHomeSearch kbWinXPPro kbWinXPPro64bit kbWinXPProSearch kbWinXPSearch

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