I am not entirely certian which version of NT, I apologize, I'll document exactly what heppens when safe mode is attempted,

ok, safe mode goes through the same process however it does not even make it as far as the white winnt screen before shutting off,

I'll open the case now and try removing 1 memory card now

Ok, opened case removed 1 - 128 mb ram and restarted, same outcome, will try the other now

For future reference:

"ok, safe mode goes through the same process however it does not even make it as far as the white winnt screen before shutting off,"

Thats because you won't see a winnt screen in safe mode during the boot process. Safe mode just installes the services neccessary to load windows. Have you installed any new hardware?

no new hardware has been installed for 6 months, also I replaced the memory and the same dump screen appears, it would appear that either both memory cards are defective or it is another problem

Here is some information I found using google.com

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_sys32.htm

Have fun!!!

• Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate

ANOTHER BIG B PRODUCTION

The error message with the reference to '..can't load Registry Hive...'(sic) usually means that one of the files that make up the Registry is corrupt. Either from being truncated (cut short), or one of the "tree's" in the Registry is corrupt.

Hoof it over to your best bud's house & use his/her computer to search the web for How-To's on Manually restoring the Registry for your particular flavor of Windows...waitaminit...

Now that I think about it, surf to
http://www.bootdisk.com/
and download what you need.

It sounds like you have bad ram. Ram causes stupid errors like that. If you can get into windows, go to the windows website and download their free windows memory diagnostic utility. It will show you how to make a boot disk for your computer, and then will run and tell you if your memory is bad (depending on your set up, it will even tell you which stick of ram is bad). That should fix u.

Information on fixing a corrupt system or software hive can be found on this thread: http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforum...rupt+hive.html

I was wondering if you ever figured out what was wrong with your computer? I am having the exact same probleom so i would like to know what you did to fix it. wes