[slowcarcrash]

Help please, I can't boot into Windows XP home edition on my Hewlett Packard PC. It always kicks me back to a screen that says: "We apologize for the inconvenience, but windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this." There are also five options to boot into which are safe mode, safe mode with networking, safe mode with command prompt, last known good configuration, or normal and I can't get into any of them.

I don't have the Windows CD but I can get into the recovery console. Any suggestions on what should be done about this is greatly appreciated.

[Advertisements]

Next time your computer is starting, press F8 before it gets to that screen a few times. On the list of options that appears (many of which are the same), choose "Disable Automatic restart on system failure" and reboot. Try to boot into normal mode and see what happens. If you get a blue screen error, please write down the error name (such as IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL) and the file it lists, if any.

[Pi rules]

Next time your computer is starting, press F8 before it gets to that screen a few times. On the list of options that appears (many of which are the same), choose "Disable Automatic restart on system failure" and reboot. Try to boot into normal mode and see what happens. If you get a blue screen error, please write down the error name (such as IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL) and the file it lists, if any.

[slowcarcrash]

Alright, I did what you suggested and got this message at the blue screen:

"A problem has been detected and windows has shutdown to prevent damage to the computer. If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. if this screen appears again, follow these steps: Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. Run Chkdsk /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

Technical information

***STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF789E524, 0XC000034, 0X0000000, 0X0000000)"

And so I ran Chkdsk from the recovery console then I tried to logon again but then got this stop message:

"Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in the stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try changing video adapters.

Check with your hardware vendor for any bios updates. Disable Bios memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical Information:

STOP: 0x0000007E (0XC0000005, 0xF733A2FE, 0XF789E404, 0XF789E1D0

PCI. sys - Address F733A2FE base at F7338000, Datestamp 41107D31"

Oh and I also like to add that for a few months now whenever the computer was on idle (meaning i'm not using it), I would hear this clicking noise and lights flashing from the computer. It would never happen if I'm using it. Was this a sign of the hardrive failing ? Do you think the messages that are popping up now is because of hardrive failure?. If I had known before I would have backed up my data.

Edited by slowcarcrash, 12 June 2007 - 01:59 PM.

[Pi rules]

If you know the type of hard drive your computer has, I would recommend going to their site and downloading the diagnostic tool to see if the hard drive is going bad.
You may also want to try a Memory Test.

[slowcarcrash]

Okay, Im using another person's computer right now. Ill have to go and perform the test later on.
But do you think this is a harddrive problem or not? Any thoughts?

[Pi rules]

Right now I'm not positive, but would like to see what the diagnostic says. The clicking noise isn't a good sound to hear. Also try the RAM test, as the 0x7E blue screen can be caused by faulty RAM.

[slowcarcrash]

I ran the hard drive diagnostic test and the memory test. The memory test was okay but the hard drive diagnostic came up negative.

here are the error codes:

Error verifying sectors 309083954 - 309084091 (Bad Command)
Error verifying sectors 317167768 - 317167895 (Bad Command)
Test ID = HD86D
Error Code : HD535-6
Disk 0 Linear Verify Failed (6/13/07 20:36)

SMART Self-Test execution status = 07h
***The read element failed. Run the appropriate HDD repair module
SMART test error at 40%, time = 2:08
SMART error
Test ID = HD&14
Error Code: HD521-2
Disk 0 SMART Self-Test Short Failed (6/13/07 20:30)

Error reading sectors 6655320-6655383 (Time out)
Test ID = HD&14
Error Code: HD521-4
Disk 0 Inner/Outer Surface Read Failed (6/13/07)

So it is a hard drive problem. Any suggestions on what I should do next?

[Pi rules]

I would get the hard drive to another computer with the proper interface (either parallel ATA, or PATA, which has a flat ribbon cable or serial ATA, or SATA, which has a thinner cable) and copy off your files starting with the most important and smallest. If it has some issues, I've read that putting it in a freezer for an hour or two can actually help. Once you start it, though, complete the whole process.