Hi,

I have a windows XP home laptop that every time you boot come up with the message:

STOP: C0000221 unknown Hard Error
Unknown Hard Error

Most of the posts and threads I have looked at suggest that the second line should give the name of the offending file(s) but this just says Unknown Hard Error.

I have run a memory check using MemTest and booted in to the repair consol using the XP disk and run CHKDSK (which fixed some errors but not the problem)

Any help on this would be very much appreciated.

Regards,

Tim

Hi timmy, um...your in the Vista section but no probs here is a link to the prob http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314474
Im not fully up to speed on all the fixes but the link does say it may be linked to a dll error so if you have your XP disk handy go to comand prompt and type in
sfc /scannow
and insert your OS disk when prompted.

Here's another couple of links to the error message:
http://aumha.org/a/stop.php#0x221
http://www.osronline.com/ddkx/ddtools/bccodes_7nzb.htm

I'd suggest:
1) Recreating your pagefile: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic71367.html#
2) Download a diagnostic utility from the manufacturer of your hard drive and run it to check for problems.
3) Run chkdsk again (to see if errors are being created again).
4) Run SFC.EXE /SCANNOW to see if that'll fix it. More info on this here: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic43051.html
5) If SFC.EXE doesn't fix it, then I'd try a repair of the OS.

Hi, Thanks for the advice.

The main problem is because the laptop wont boot I can only get into the Recovery console from the CD. unfortunaly this wont allow me to run SFC.
is there a way round this?

Sorry for posting in the wrong forum, Iwas looking at a previous post and just clicked the new post button without thinking.

Tim

OK, you can do step 1 by deleting the pagefile.sys file in the %SystemRoot% directory (usually C:\) - BUT DON'T DO IT YET!!!
Step 2 is a bootable utility that doesn't require Windows to run. You'll have to boot from the CD drive
Step 3 can be run in Recovery Console
Step 4 - Try typing this at the Recovery Console prompt:

%SystemRoot%\system32\sfc.exe /scannow

Dunno if it'll work, but it's worth a shot!

Step 5 requires booting from the CD also.

Thanks again for the advice,

Step 1 - I haven’t done this but couldn’t find the Pagefile.sys in the Systemroot c:\
Step 2 - I have run the Seagate diag. utility and this has come back with no errors
Step 3 - CHKDSK finished with no bad or recovered sectors
Step 4 - Unfortunately this didn’t work.
Step 5 - Haven’t done this yet (mainly because I cant find a XP Home disk) but it looks like my only option

Regards.

Tim

Not having a pagefile.sys file may be an issue here. On my system I've moved it to my other hard drive to help speed up the system. It's also possible that it's turned off completely (not a good idea, but one that's used occasionally).

Looks like the search for the XP Home repair disks will have to go on. Sounds like the repair install is the only option right now.

Good luck!

BTW, what kind of laptop is it? If it's a Gateway or eMachines, any XPHome disk will work (don't use an XPPro or Media Center disk tho'! - it'll mess up your system because the product key won't work!)

Thanks,

I have know found the Xp home disk and removed the HDD and backed up all the important data to my desktop.

Its a Compaq Presario M2000

Tim