STOP: C0000218 {Registery File Failure}

My HP Pavilion Laptop running Window XP Home Edition cannot boot. Recently
it cannot boot and pops up following error:

"STOP: C0000218 {egistery File Failure}
The registery cannot load the hive (file)
:\Systemroot\System32\Config\Software
or its log or alternate. It is corrupt, absent, or not writable"

The system then dumps memory to disk and reboots and continues the same loop.

I will appreciate any advise on how I can recover from this error without
loosing data in my hardisk.

Hi

Dependent on which type of XP CD you have, please try the following link to
Jim Eshelman's web page - right hand column
(218)