[Corey Bernstein]

My Compaq notebook, running Windows Vista, has been running extremely slowly and getting worse over the last few weeks. Programs keep freezing and the computer has begun to shut down randomly. I ran Avast and SpyBot and found nothing. Cleaned up files to no avail. Chkdsk displays no errors. Finally, I called HP tech support. After getting nowhere with the rep, the notebook suddenly turned off again. Now, I cannot boot into the operating system before I receive the following blue screen of death: 0x00000024 (0x00190444, 0x85C9E450, 0xC0000102, 0x00000000)
I am a very computer savvy guy, but this has me stuck. Please pass on all your technical wisdom regarding this error. Thanks!

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A "Stop: 0x00000024" error message occurs when Windows Vista encounters an unrecoverable error when it tries to access an NTFS partition or a volume on the hard disk. This often means that the file system or partition structure is corrupted and/or a driver compatibility issue exists. For example, the file system driver for an antivirus program or for another utility can cause this issue. Since you've apparently already tried chkdsk, I'd run the hard drive manufacturer's Hard Drive Diagnostics next to see if the hard drive might be failing:

Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities
http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287

Make sure you select the tool which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create a bootable floppy or bootable CD.
If the downloaded file is an ".iso" type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn the .iso file to a CD, (select the "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

(Thanks to Broni for the instructions).

[SpywareDr]

A "Stop: 0x00000024" error message occurs when Windows Vista encounters an unrecoverable error when it tries to access an NTFS partition or a volume on the hard disk. This often means that the file system or partition structure is corrupted and/or a driver compatibility issue exists. For example, the file system driver for an antivirus program or for another utility can cause this issue. Since you've apparently already tried chkdsk, I'd run the hard drive manufacturer's Hard Drive Diagnostics next to see if the hard drive might be failing:

Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities
http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287

Make sure you select the tool which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create a bootable floppy or bootable CD.
If the downloaded file is an ".iso" type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn the .iso file to a CD, (select the "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

(Thanks to Broni for the instructions).

[Corey Bernstein]

I have no idea what manufacturer the hard drive is.

[SpywareDr]

If the Operating System won't boot, there are usually a couple of ways to identify the hard drive manufacturer. One would be to look around in the BIOS/CMOS Setup for a hard drive model number. If it starts with "WD", it's probably a Western Digital; "ST", Seagate, etc. Whatever the model number is, type it in on Google and you should spot the manufacturer's name several times on the first resultant Google page. Another way would be to pop the removable hard driver cover off the bottom of the laptop, (usually one to three little phillips-head screws), and take a peek at the label on the hard drive.