"The Registry Cannot Load the Hive"

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I've tried to read up on how to fix this, but I really don't know what to do,
and don't want to screw anything up.

Here are the basics:
Stand-alone Dell with Windows XP Professional and SP2
I was using the computer, then it lagged completely and stalled and so I had
to power down using the power button.

I waited, turned it back on, it rebooted to the screen with XP and the blue
scrolling....but it never changed to the regular log in screen. So I powered
down again. This time I got:
We apologize for the inconvenience, but windows did not start successfully.
A recent hardware or software change might have caused this.

If your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was
automatically shut down to protect your files and folders, choose Last Known
Good Configuration to revert to the most recent settings that worked.

If a previous startup attempt was interrupted due to a power failure or
because the power or reset button was pressed, or if you aren't sure what
caused the problem, choose Start Windows Normally.

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Last Known Good Configuration(your most recent settings that worked)
Starts Windows Normally(HIGHLIGHTED)

Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight to your choice.
Seconds until Windows starts:27

I tried rebooting with several of the options, and it ran through a list of
registry items??? listed like:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\windows\system32\drivers\WHATEVER FILENAME

Right after it shows agp440.sys it pauses, the I get the following blue
screen error message:

STOP: 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.

Beginning dump of physical memory.
Dumping physical memory to disk.

Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further
assistance.


Things I don't know:
Is this OEM software? I don't know. It came on the PC at purchase. I have
read that I need to be careful if I correct this and it is OEM.

Things I don't have:
I don't know if I have my XP disks. And would I need that SP2 update disk
also?

Things I do have:
I bought an external hard drive a few months ago and backed up my entire
computer. Can I pull the registry off that (somehow?????) and copy the file
(somehow)???

Thank you for ANY HELP you can give to resurrect my PC.

.

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