Bsod: C0000218 {Registry File Failure): How to fix it in Vista Ultimate

My system is running on windows vista Ultimate and today Ive encountered a bsod while booting.

Bsod: 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.

I dont know what the issue is all about, according to the error message it seems as if there is something wrong with registry of my system.I have tried rebooting my system several times but that's not making any difference . I wanted to know if there is anything that i can try out to get my system working or i will have to reinstall vista.

I am not sure but i think that this issue is because of motherboard, my system is having Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 and i get same error message when i run it with 4x 1GB sticks of RAM. System works fine with 2x 1GB sticks of RAM without any such issue. By now i have tried updating the bios and have installed all recommended updates but no avail. I am not able to get my system working with 4x 1GB ram. According to the specification of Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 it should run 8 gb of ram without any issues but its not. I dont mind getting my board checked but i have kept that as my last option and ill like to know if there is some other workaround to get rid of this error message. I also wanted to add that i have tried reinstalling vista as well but that's not making any difference in my case.

Same here, My system is having Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 3.3) and i cannot run 4 x 1 GB ram with it. It allows me to run 3 x 1 GB ram without any errors and blusecreen. I have tried switching ram in different slots, updating bios, installing latest drivers, reinstalling vista but no luck yet. I thought that there was something wrong with my rams but i have tested out my board with other rams and have got same response. I have checked out regrading the error and have come across many people facing it but none of them has got it solved by now. Some have mentioned that they have got rid of the bsod after reinstalling windows but that's not helping me. I am just running out of ideas by now. I have tried contacting Gigabyte support and they have suggested me workarounds that i have already tried. When i told them that their workarounds are not working out for me then they simply said me to get the board check from nearest service center. I will be surely get it checked this weekend but until then like you both even i will like to know if there is any other solution we can try out.

You can count me in as well, i am experiencing same problem like you all when using 4 x 1 GB ram with GA-965GM-S2 (rev. 1.0). I am not sure if this issue is specific to Gigabyte boards as i have come across some facing similar issue with asus boards as well. I have tried out all possible solution that i could have but no luck, I have ran memtest by running all rams individually and have found them passing the test without issues. They are just not working all together, i can get things working fine with 3 x 1 GB ram but as soon as i add fourth one and boot my system i get that irritating BSOD. I have tested out all my four rams on other board and have found them working together, so i am quite sure that there is nothing wrong with the rams but it is somewhere with my Gigabyte board. Even i had contacted Gigabyte support and they had suggested me solutions like, updating bios to latest, install all recommended updated, running memtest and all but none of them made any difference in my case. It seem to be a common issue with Gigabyte boards, i have seen many people reporting this issue to Gigabyte but i dont know what they are doing, they haven't been of any help to anyone. I really feel that i would have bought a cheap motherboard rather than getting Gigabyte board, i am really disappointed with them and their so called support. I am planning to get some other board because i am quite sure that Gigabyte will maintain their silence for some more days and i cant wait anymore. I will suggest you to do the same, just trash their boards and get some other one, I wont be getting any board from Gigabyte hence forth neither i'll suggest anyone to get it.

I think i have found the cause of this issue, just now when i was going through some forums where similar cases have been mentioned. I found one mentioning that bsod occurs when 4GB RAM are used with drives connected in RAID ports, if you connect your drive in regular SATA ports and don't change anything then you wont get same bsod anymore and all 4g rams will work fine. Not sure if this is a bug in Gigabyte board's but the mentioned solution is really a fix. You all can try out what ive mentioned and post back the response you get, best of luck. If at all you dont get this workaround working then i dont think there might be anything else that you all might be able to try out rather than getting your board replaced or getting a new one, Best of luck.

You all can try out the solution that has been mentioned by seanneko but i wanted to share that i have found this issue not to be because of the ram neither the board, it is because of widows update. I wanted to know if you have installed latest updates? if yes than i will like to inform you that there is something wrong with latest update. I have come across many people who were running in to exactly the same issue after installing updates, if you think you might be having same case then do a clean installation of windows using your 2 gb ram or 3 gb ram for that while. After making a clean installation dont install any update and add your 4th ram and check out if your system boots up fine. Many people have mentioned that without installing any update their system is booting up fine with 4gb ram and i think same should work for you all as well.

CrazyFin is right, this issue has been introduced by Microsoft update, I am not having a Gigabyte board but i have faced same issue with ASUS M2N32 WS Pro and 4gb ram after installing update. I dint had any issue before installing the updates and my system was working great. I was not able to make out the cause of the issue and i had tried out all solution that i came across in different forums but none of them was working. I had tried out reinstalling windows using 2 gb ram but i had again installed latest update from Microsoft immediately for keeping my system up to date and was running in to same issue. Later i came across one mentioning that he had made a clean install of windows and had not installed any updates and was able to get 4gb ram working on his gigabyte board. I tried out the same and was surprised to get my system working with 4 GB of ram as well. Just do a clean install without installing any update further guys and you will get your system working fine as before.

I thought i was the only one facing this weird issue but while Googling out for that error i came across this thread. Currently i am running my system having gigabyte board with 3GB of ram and i am not getting any error. I surely try out the solution that have been mentioned here but i am being a bit keen and i need conformation form some one here if Clean install + No update is really working.

I dont know if "clean install + no update" is really working or not but i have tried disabling Gigabyte Raid controller and using onboard SATA controller with 4GB of RAM and since then my system is working fine. I am just happy to get it fixed, i am not sure but i think that the latest updates is not allowing vista to run with 4GB when Gigabyte Raid controller is in use. So if anyone is not able to get their 4gb ram working using onboard SATA controller then they can try out "clean install + no update"

I got it working too, disabling Gigabyte Raid controller and using onboard SATA controller is really helping. Even i have not tried out "clean install + no update" as that would take more time but i will like to know if that's working as well.

I will try out both workarounds and will post back the result i get as soon as possible. At least i have got confirmation from davey and cooncheese70 that disabling Gigabyte Raid controller and using onboard SATA controller is fixing the issue.

I solved it out by running windows repair tools using vista disk and running checkdisk "chkdsk /f" for fixing the errors. I dont know if the cause this issue was different in my case. checkdisk was a life saver, no more bsods.