OK, I tried out the new IE v7.0 beta 2. Didn't like it, kept bugging out on me and crashing. So I followed instructions on how to uninstall IE then I reinstalled IE 6.0. Well it booted a few times after that, but I got wierd error messages about some files being corrupted a few times and I had to do a "boot from last working configuration" to get past that one. All seemed to be fine, then I come home today and try it out and the darn thing goes to the Toshiba screen, then to the Windows XP screen, then to a black screen, then a blue screen blinks on for like a 1/10 of a second and the machine reboots.

I have a system restoration disk, and put it in and it booted, but will it blank out all my files on this laptop? I have a bunch of family pictures and other valuable items that I cannot afford to lose and need to know if I can run system restore w/o losing whats in my "My Documents" folder.

I was able to shoot video of the quick blue screen that flashes and it has words on it. They say:

"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."

not sure if that will help, but just thought I'd share. Any help would be MUCH appreciated.

OK, I've learned how to get to a command prompt using a Windows XP disk I had here. Not sure what repair command I can use on it though.

with the repair function on the xp install disk. try using FIXMBR return. then when done FIXBOOT return, this will repair the boot sector. however if the registry will not load this may not do it. in this case try reinstalling xp as an overwrite, this way you keep all your data and it should sort it(dont format or delete any partitions).