BSD and registry file fail

[gas path]

As the title implies I'm currently having this failure on a colleague's PC.
STOP: C0000218 The registry cannot load the hive ....etc etc.
It's a Dell running Win XP. I can do a restore/rebuild from the 'hidden' partition and it seems to run ok for anything upto a couple of months until the same fault reappears. I have remade the connections to the HD and reseated the ram.
There is plenty of info on the web but all point to a 'terminal' failure whereas this, as pointed out, runs ok for a while.
Any thoughts? I'm leaning towards an impeding hard drive failure but your input would be appreciated.
:confused:

[Bushfiva]

Um, check the system event logs for ID 9, 11, 15 to pinpoint a potential hardware problem, but there's a bazillion reasons the hive can get corrupted. My personal one a while back was a piece of software that was still writing to the registry during shutdown. I think I spent 4 months on that one.

[Tarq57]

If it is related to the scenario described by Bushfiva, this (http://www.microsoft.com/DOWNLOADS/details.aspx?familyid=1B286E6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&displaylang=en) might help.
Been using it on my XP home for 2yr +, seems to improve stability.

[gregpend]

Are you shutting the system down properly? When windows loses power it doesn't have a chance to save your registry properly and this can lead to corruption if it happens often enough.

[gas path]

Hhmm..sorry to drag this one up again BUT!
I did a rebuild again from the 'hidden partition' and again all was well and good for a week or so then the same failure occurred:mad:
So the next stage was a complete format and a new copy of xp pro loaded, all the updates appeared and the only other 'major' software was a firewall, AV, itunes and open office (zonealarm and Avast). All has been good until today when basically the same thing has happened. It gets to the Windows splash screen sits there for a while and then just a blank screen and nothing further! Switching the machine off and back on results in the same except it gets to the screen that shows everything loading and then the opportunity to select safe mode/last good config. etc etc. however none of these work:confused:.
'Computor management' didn't show anything much.
I must add that it has never failed when up and running and I was told that it had been ok when left on for a couple of days!
Any ideas? TIA.

[Saab Dastard]

I suggest a full hard disk scan - you can get disk utils from Western Digital and Seagate (including Maxtor) for their drives. Presumably also for IBM and others.

Put it through a complete deep scan, let it attempt to map out any bad sectors.

If time is money, though, buy a replacement HD - or even a new PC!

SD

PS - If it is a faulty disk, it may still be under warranty. I've just had a Seagate disk replaced free (OK, £3 postage), although it's a factory refurbished replacement, so worth checking.

[gas path]

Many thanks SD I will look into that and report back:ok: