c0000218 Blue Screen Error (2000 Pro)

Of course, if anyone else has had this problem on another operating system or computer type, but managed to get it fixed easily for free or cheap, either by your own actions or with the right equipment or software, please feel free to chime in!

All suggestions/anecdotes are welcome if the info would be useful in my own situation -- thanx :)

Hi,

How to Troubleshoot a Stop 0xC0000218 Error Message
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/156640

Frankly I would repartition and format the drive then re-install Windows.

If needed you should be able to find a copy of 2000 available on-line, maybe ebay.
Can the computer run XP? You should be able to find it as well.

Hope this helps.
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Rob Brown - Microsoft MVP <- profile - Windows and Devices for IT : Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.

Sorry for the wait in replying...been a rough few months, and I'm just getting back into the swing of things.

I haven't had a chance to try this strategy out, but I am eager to do so...I am currently trying to get some things addressed, and from there, I will apply your tips here and will update you on its success or failure.

I can't wait to see if this will work...I would love to render this computer of mine active again after having it languish in a dark closet for more than half a decade! :-)

Thanks very much for your reply, and I will keep you posted once I get a chance to test these troubleshooting tips out!

Hi,

How to Troubleshoot a Stop 0xC0000218 Error Message
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/156640

Frankly I would repartition and format the drive then re-install Windows.

If needed you should be able to find a copy of 2000 available on-line, maybe ebay.
Can the computer run XP? You should be able to find it as well.

Hope this helps.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Brown - Microsoft MVP <- profile - Windows and Devices for IT : Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.

Hello again...sorry for the long wait in returning your message. Many personal and professional issues have kept me busy, but I am eager in trying to put your advice into practice very soon.

I've visited the link you've provided and wondered if the "Recovery Console" is accessible through the F8 Boot menu or if it is a separate device/software item I will need to purchase. Again, my computer will not fully start due to the error, but I can access the Boot menu early into the process.

To answer your other question, the computer can run Windows XP; it had been installed after another repair job years ago, but yet another repair job resulted in Windows 2000 Professional being reinserted. Hopefully, it shouldn't be an issue either way, but I would like to make the job as quick, efficient, and inexpensive as possible. It'd be nice to pick back up where I left off with this computer if it can be done :-)

Thanks

Hi,

How to Troubleshoot a Stop 0xC0000218 Error Message
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/156640

Frankly I would repartition and format the drive then re-install Windows.

If needed you should be able to find a copy of 2000 available on-line, maybe ebay.
Can the computer run XP? You should be able to find it as well.

Hope this helps.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Brown - Microsoft MVP <- profile - Windows and Devices for IT : Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.

Also, if you'll forgive my ignorance for a few moments more, would it make any difference if I got ahold of the normal version of the Windows 2000 CD-ROM instead of the specific Windows 2000 Professional version? I'd just hate for that to backfire if I get the wrong model of the software, or would the Windows 2000 (regular) Recovery Console work on Windows 2000 Professional as well?

Thanks in advance for your reply :-)

That depends on the disk.... which should be marked on it. There are disks that contain multiple versions of Windows and the product key determines which is installed. Other might only have one version.

Rob - SpiritX

Here's the update...

I was able to find a new unopened copy of the Windows 2000 Professional CD-ROM on Amazon.com recently....it cost 80 bones (wince), but I figured it kept the "this-is-an-old-preowned-version" excuse off the table if it didn't work somehow. I finally got the CD-ROMs (two disks in the packet) in the mail earlier today and referenced the link you gave me, along with another online tutorial I found in a Bing search.

It took some doing, but I eventually figured it out to get to the Recovery Console, as you can see below.

Referencing Step 1 from your link, I did a grand total of 4 "chkdsk /p" commands earlier this evening, but sadly, no improvement on the blue screen error. It doesn't seem as though the console detected anything, but it seems to have just did a scan without really fixing anything. Did I do something wrong, or is this to be expected?

Another odd thing: the first CD-ROM boot of the program had a bizarre fail, in which a message something along the lines of "ultra.sys is corrupt - boot has failed" appeared before the computer restarted. However, the message hasn't appeared since, and every following CD-ROM boot has worked successfully. Wish I'd thought to take a photo so I could ask if that were at all relevant. I've tried Step 2 (Load Last Good Version) without success, but haven't tried Step 3 yet. I'll have to make an attempt at that some other time. I feel close to a breakthrough, but I'm clearly not there yet at all.

One other thing: during the repair process, I took note of the other repair option on the page.

I took a peek at the "Emergency Repair" option, and it made reference to an emergency repair disk. I'm not sure if it is another purchase I'd have to make, especially after another eighty dollars spent made little to no difference here, but I'm still open to whatever that can fix the error. Feel free to reply and educate me if I'm off at all.

At the very least, I have a copy of the program now, so hopefully I can figure something out with it pretty soon. And as always, I'm willing to take any tips, advice or corrections the forum can provide.

Hi,

How to Troubleshoot a Stop 0xC0000218 Error Message
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/156640

Frankly I would repartition and format the drive then re-install Windows.

If needed you should be able to find a copy of 2000 available on-line, maybe ebay.
Can the computer run XP? You should be able to find it as well.

Hope this helps.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Brown - Microsoft MVP <- profile - Windows and Devices for IT : Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.

Hi again! Have another update...

I've gone ahead and tried Step 3 on the page you've given me. It didn't make a lot of sense when I read ahead, but I kind of got the gist of it as I went ahead and applied it. Using the CD-ROM of Windows 2000 Professional I bought recently, I (eventually) was able to follow the instructions to create a secondary Windows profile on my computer, luckily without overwriting the damaged profile with all my stuff on it, as I almost did at first.

I went ahead and created a new folder on which to save the program, and the process went along successfully. When the computer rebooted, I accidentally opened up the damaged profile, which ultimately gave me the BSOD again, but during the startup process, it proceeded to a disk scan before the shutdown, something it hadn't done in years. I thought there might have been some significance to the messages I saw in the scan before it completed, but it did no good. Just for your knowledge, the consistency scan displayed the following; if they mean anything, please feel free to let me know:

• Windows replaced bad clusters in file \WINNT\$NtUninstallKB941693$\spuninst\updspapi.dll of name (null).
• Windows replaced bad clusters in file \WINNT\Temp\slu17ad.tmp\VIRSCAN7.DAT of name (null).
• Windows replaced bad clusters in file \WINNT\Help\mmc.chm of name (null).
• Windows replaced bad clusters in file \WINNT\system32\config\SYSTEM.ALT of name (null).
• Windows replaced bad clusters in file \WINNT\system32\config\SOFTWARE of name (null).

Obviously, once I got the error screen again after the consistency scan, I made sure to start from the backup profile during the restart. On the upside, the secondary profile I created turned out to work just fine; I have a functional computer again, in a sense. However, I ran into a small issue in trying to complete Step 3: use the backup account to replace the damaged components of the original. I went ahead and found the folder to the backup account in the C:// drive and copied the contents from the registry files, but when I went to the folder of the damaged account and attempted the replace, I got the following message:

I'm something of an advanced novice, slightly more adept at using a computer than an average person, but maybe I was a bit naïve in thinking that a simple copy-and-paste was gonna work here. The webpage did say something about a "tape backup," but I wasn't sure what that meant. Anyone here is welcome to enlighten me on what it means.

Clearly, I must have missed something...would anyone please be so kind as to help me straighten this out? I have a functional backup account on this computer again, but I'm not yet able to fully fix the damaged one yet. At least, today went better than almost all the previous attempts combined, but I'm still just short of my goal. Hope someone can give me that one last good tip to wrap this up for me.

Thanks in advance

:-)

No new replies, people? I'm a bit surprised...
:-(

After some time went by without a reply, I went ahead and did some research solo: in my last message, I mentioned the "tape backup" thing and how the troubleshooting link given by Spirit MS MVP made reference to it. I think I know what it is and what its for, but I don't have anything readily available to me like that, other than a handful of blank floppy disks, which I doubt can handle this task due to their low space capacity.

I'm still stuck on this final step, as I said in my last reply, so I would really appreciate any reply that can get me over that last little hump in repairing the damaged profile. Can't help but think that I might be overcomplicating this somehow...

Thanks in advance...again

:-)

No new takers? No problem, I guess...I may be fairly close to solving the issue, but a little advice from someone more knowledgeable than I could speed things along a little bit more so that I won't make a crucial mistake.

I'm still hung up on the last step that SpiritX MS MVP was so generous to provide before, but I've still been thinking quite hard on it in recent weeks. As you may see in one of my earlier update replies, you'll see I've managed to install a parallel Windows 2000 Professional operating system with a new software disk, but have an issue in copying the new healthy registry files to replace the damaged ones in the downed operating system. I'm starting to speculate that a copy-and-paste won't work (clearly it didn't, as I said earlier), and that the files may need to be copied to an external device (possibly that "tape backup" mentioned in the article), and then transferred from there rather than direct from the desktop to overcome the error.

I'm sorry to sound like such a novice, but am I on the right track, at least? It seems to make sense as I go along, but I want to be certain about this before I do anything...the first rule for me is "do no further harm," so I'm a bit over-tentative about just making bold moves without consultation...

Feel free to reply either way; this is definitely a learning process for me, guys and gals, so please bear with me! lololol thanx

:-)