[Lisa]

A few weeks ago my lap top started giving me dumping memory errors. I have a Dell Inspiron 8100.
Eventually, it came up with the following error message:
STOP:C0000221 (Bad Image check sum error) The image comdlg32.dll is possibly corrupt. The header checksum does not match the completed checksum.
I used the recovery/dell disk that came with the computer and attempted to reinstall Windows XP (included reformatting of hard drive). It was successful only up to a point and then when the computer rebooted itself this error message came up again. I heard the drive clicking and suddenly I ended up with a black screen telling me no optical devices of drives found.
At this point I could do nothing and assumed that my hard drive had crashed so I bought a new one.
When I tried to install the Windows XP again (with the dell disk that came with my computer) it did the exact same thing, it let me format, and went through proceess of checking files and setting up the system files. But when it rebooted the comdlg32.dll error message came up again. Now it is the only thing I see when I turn on the laptop.
What is going on and how do I fix it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lisa

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Hi Lisa, welcome to Geeks to Go!

It does sound like your hard drive may have died, but then for it to do the same thing again with a new hard drive, and fresh install is very unusual.

Seems to me it would have to be a hardware error, or a particularly nasty BIOS virus. Did you have any antivirus software installed on this system?

[admin]

Hi Lisa, welcome to Geeks to Go!

It does sound like your hard drive may have died, but then for it to do the same thing again with a new hard drive, and fresh install is very unusual.

Seems to me it would have to be a hardware error, or a particularly nasty BIOS virus. Did you have any antivirus software installed on this system?

[Lisa]

Yes, there was McAfee virus program on the computer. What would he suggest I do now. The computer when turned on only shows the error message and I cannot go further to do anything. Is there a utility to use to determine whether it is a hardware issue or a BIOS virus issue.

[admin]

If you have broadband, I'd recommend downloading Knoppix. It's a version of Linux that loads completely from a CD. If it works loads and runs okay, then it's probably not a hardware issue.

Download: http://www.knoppix.net/get.php

An alternative, would be to download the BIOS for your computer onto a floppy disk using another computer, and then using it to flash the BIOS to a known clean version.

[Lisa]

Thank you. I will try this tonight and see what I come up with and post my results or any other questions I might have.

[my xp duznt work]

i have a similar problem here my computer turns on says dell and comes up with the windows xp loading thingi but then comes up with a blue screen says:
STOP: C0000221 [bad image checksum] the image comdlg32.dll is possibly corrupt. the header checksum does not match the corrupted checksum.
can u suggest any thing??