Error : 0xc00000e9

[TurtleMachine]

I have a HP Laptop, with vista, it is not my computer so I'm not sure what could've caused this problem but the problem is when I try to start it, it will pause and then come to this screen.

File: \Windows\system32\config\system

Status: 0xc00000e9

Info: Windows failed to load because the system registry file is missing, or corrupt.

I tried restoring it to the last known working settings and it says that there hasn't been any set, when the computer has been working for about a year before this problem.

I have tried safe mode, and it leads to the \windows\ error above

I tried restoring to factory settings, whatever the problem was stopped it at 43% for about 5-6 hours without changing so I stopped it. And after that I was never able to go back to "restore factory settings" the option is just gone from wherever I stumbled upon it before

I tried reinstalling vista, and it never made it past "Completing installation"

With the vista CD, you cannot restore to factory settings, the check for hardware problems on the CD or whatever, that says it'll check for broken files and replace them, says that it could NOT fix the problems it found.

And now when I put in the CD, it loads, gets past the microsoft loading thing at the bottom and cannot make it past that, which is why I cant tell you the exact error for the broken file check

So now what?

[Monty007]

Hi, this issue could be related to a hardware failure or software. It looks like the hard drive has died but here is a link to try a few things.
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Win...51033.mspx#EFF

[TurtleMachine]

Tried all of that, nothing works.

[TurtleMachine]

Update: The CD does work, it is just very very slow. I tried "repair your computer" but I didn't have any drives, and when I hit "load drives" I couldn't find them. I'm trying to install vista again now, and see what happens

[TurtleMachine]

Alright since I'm pretty sure nobody's helping me because they can't I'm just going to leave the last of what I know and check every once in awhile

My computer still has the error sometimes, only when you run it normally, but doesn't in safe mode. I'm trying to run spybot scans from my USB drive since it will not let me copy files over, or run the install. AVG wont work for any of those though. And after awhile the blue screen of death comes up. I don't know anything about computers, but probably more than most of you, hopefully someone who actually understands all this technical stuff will help me out

[Monty007]

Can you tell us when this issue began? Do you have a system restore point you can use before you started to have issues?
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windo...ystem-restore/

If not I would run these commands:
Open a command prompt in safe mode and type in:

chkdsk c:
hit enter and let it run

Once complete run the memory tool:
Go to the start box and type in memory diagnostics and click on "start now"

Was there any issues? If not place your Vista cd in the drive and type:

sfc /scannow

Has this has been successful? If not the only option is to format the laptop. But I still think from what you have explained that this is a failing hard drive.