is there a way to restore the registry when a pc won't boot?

[dualblade]

i'm getting bluescreens when trying to start up xp on a friends' pc. unfortunately, i can't read them because of the automatic reboot "feature". i think i did catch something about a registry something or other and that does make sense. is there anything i can do or is a reinstall required? does xp make automatic backups of the registry or would i have to restore a manual backup (which i don't have)?

 

[Ranma_Sao]

Make a BARTPE Cd, turn off the automatic reboot, or post the minidumps somewhere for me to look at.

http://nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Minidumps:
C:\windows\minidump

The registry hives are stored at:
C:\windows\system32\config

Backups made by setup are stored at:
C:\windows\repair

I take it last known good doesn't fix this issue either?

 

[dualblade]

Make a BARTPE Cd, turn off the automatic reboot, or post the minidumps somewhere for me to look at.

http://nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Minidumps:
C:\windows\minidump

The registry hives are stored at:
C:\windows\system32\config

Backups made by setup are stored at:
C:\windows\repair

I take it last known good doesn't fix this issue either?

last known good/safe mode is no good. thanks for the rest of the info, i'll work with that

 

[Phoenix86]

Although I've never tried it, it's in the KB...

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;322756

I'm sure this is likely to put you back to a default registry, YMMV (may want to wait and see what Ranma has up his sleeve).