I have a few theories as to the cause, which I have also listed below. This is on my Dell Dimension 8400 XP system, which I use in homeschooling my boys:
-On the day of the crash, I successfully got the computer to recognize a midi keyboard, but did NOT install the software I would like to install to use with it.
-On the day of the crash, I had been looking for information on curing soap, and a website I went to was hijacked with one of those "You are infected!" etc. warnings. I promptly closed the browser, all programs, and noticed an icon in the tray that I did not recognize (but it may have been there and I hadn't noticed it before, since many of them hide most of the time anyway), and intended to investigate at a suitable point in time.
-At this point, I restarted the computer and went into the administrator side to run some scans and see if everything was okay. Since the computer is set up with separate administrator and limited user accounts, the browser on the user accounts will not even let a user install active-x controls or new programs. As I was running scans (and not watching the computer), the admin side decided to do some of the routine updates that it only seems to do when I log in to that account. Then it notified me that it would restart in 15 min to finish updating, unless I told it not to. I wanted to finish the scans, so every 15 min, I told it not to restart. The only problem is, I fell asleep before the scan finished, and my guess is the computer restarted in the middle of the scans. In any case, I awoke to a computer that was still on, but BLACK screen, no reviving.
-Next day: When I tried restarting, I received the UNMOUNTABLE BOOT VOLUME error. I followed support.microsoft's instructions to run CHKDSK from the recovery console from the XP CD.
-After this, I was able to start it in safe mode, and back up my files, and tried to run AVG. It appeared to run in DOS mode, and did not appear to find anything,though I can't be sure. (For several years, we did fine with no antivirus, no problems whatsoever with the computer set up on limited user accounts, then about a year ago, when the boys, ages 5 and 6, started using the computer, and I first experienced a browser hijack like the one above, I installed AVG, and have done fine with it since then, until this point.)
-Not knowing what else I should be doing in safe mode, I tried to start it normally and got the following error:
stop: c0000218 {RegistryFileFailure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate
-the support.microsoft site said not to use their instructions to recover a corrupted registry on an OEM installed OS, so I called Dell and had them run me through how to run diagnostics on the HD. THis came back clear.
-Not knowing what else to do, I started it in safe mode and did a system restore. Upon restart, the computer automatically ran CHKDSK, saying that the volume was dirty.
-This is the message we got from that:
Deleting an index entry from index $0 of file 17952
Deleting an index entry prepare an index $I30 of file 144715
(I cannot read my writing, so these may not be exact, and they may have been on separate reboots...can't tell.)
-At this point, I was able to start the computer normally and use it normally for a few days. I tried to upgrade AVGfree (I think 9.0 is current?), and it did, but the autmatic (and manual) update function on it would not seem to work, and so it was useless. A new DVD R/RW drive put in successfully and used without glitch. Nothing else out of the ordinary.
-Tried to figure out what caused the problem in the first place, and encountered the next BSOD:
stop: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xF73999CC, 0xF7A09C4C, 0xF7A09948)
iastor.sys-Address F73999CC base at F7368000, DateStamp 40608C73
-Unable to start in safe mode either.
-At this point, I did this from the recovery console:
CD ..
ATTRIB -H C:\boot.ini
ATTRIB -S C:\boot.ini
ATTRIB -R C:\boot.ini
del boot.ini
BOOTCFG /Rebuild
Load Identifier: Windows XP Home Edition
OS Load Options: /FASTDETECT /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN
then CHKDSK /R
then FIXBOOT
-This restart launched an endless loop of CHKDSK-restart, and would not enter normal mode, so I finally hit F8 and WAS able to enter safe mode this time.
-So, now I am in safe mode again and have no idea what I should do next. I really don't know that much about computers, but I can follow instructions. Any ideas?
Any help would be greatly appreciated since I use this computer in homeschooling my boys. I am posting from my other computer which I use for grad school, and DO NOT want the boys to touch, ever!
Thanks so much!
Elizabeth
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