Hello! I have a Hp Pavillion zd8000 laptop running on windows xp, its just over a year old and had WORKED problem free untill recently. It starts booting normally untill after the windows xp icon and loading bar, then the screen goes blank for a couple of seconds and im given this message on a BLUE screen.

Stop: C0000218 {registry file failure}
The registry cannot load hive (file):
\systemroot\system32\config\software
or its log or alternative
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.

i've had a search and have found threads pointing to virus's or ram\harddrive malfunctions, but im in way over my HEAD. I use norton go back, but this was unable to access restore points. When i deactivated this and tryed the windows restore i got the same blue message. Safe mode also does not load.
Any help or advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Is this enough information?

many thanks,Free RAM test at www.memtest86.com

Free hard drive test at the appropriate drive maker's site. If you don't know use SeaTools form www.seagate.com

Do you have a REAL Windows CD to do a repair install with if it is a software fault?

What are you running for virus/spyware protection? Anything found recently?

Any recent power surges or other problems noted with the machine?