Hi, The other day I turned my computer on and it kept rebooting after the Windows XP logo came on. I noticed that a blue screen flashed for a split second before it rebooted. After some crafty work with a camera I was able to read the message. It said: "Stop: 0xc0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\CorruptHive..." etc. It seems to be pretty common because I found intructions on how to fix it. I followed them (basically, I replaced the corrupted registry files with the ones from a recent System Restore Point). It worked. However, not long after I booted up, the computer just shut off instantly on its own. When I turned it back on the registry was corrupt again. I've done some reading and I've discovered that the cause of this is most likely faulty hardware. But I wanted to find out if anyone else has had or heard of this problem and if it was something other than hardware. Thanks! Dale.

You have pretty much zeroed in on the crux of the problem. Yes , the cause is a registry error caused either by Registry corruption, installation of a poorly written driver for a hardware or a defective hardware itself. To make a differential diagnosis among the multiple causes capable of producing the symptom and error message thrown up by Windows, one must have a good look at the history of the Computer Problem, starting with the duration of the particular symptom, the hardware and software environment of the PC when it was working normally, changes if any in the hardware or software environment preceding the onset of the symptom etc. Clues from such analysis will narrow down the cause to one or two. If it points to a hardware, try first with any updated driver for the Device. If updated driver does not solve the problem, removing or replacing the Device itself with a known good one may be the answer. Restoring the System to an earlier date would have solved Registry Corruption from a random event. Recurrence of the problem after that makes that an unlikely cause. I know, my answer does not have any specifics and for most readers my answer would not provide any magic bullet, but in the absence of adequate data about the PC, that is the best I could come up with:-) M