BSOD Prevents my PC from booting up past XP progress bar

AustrAlien, I've tried re-booting 10 times as you mentioned, no result. I've also posted the full details of the error message on my last post. There's only one HDD on my PC, a SATA one to be exact. I'm not familiar with RAID arrays and have not done anything like that to set up my only HDD.

When I click CTRL-F at the "Scanning IDE Drives" screen, it takes me to the FastBuild Utility, in which there are five options:

Auto Setup.................[1]
View Drive Assignments.....[2]
Define Array...............[3]
Delete Array...............[4]
Rebuild Array..............[5]

I dunno how to mess with this so I've left it as such.

Also, I've been suggested elsewhere to try boot recovery and/or antivirus CD's. Would that be of any help, considering I most likely can't even re-install XP with the corrupted CD I have?

suggested elsewhere to try boot recovery and/or antivirus CD's

Do you have any reason to suspect that malware (virus, trojan, spyware) may have been present in the system, and that it may be responsible for your current predicament? You did say that you re-started the system to refresh it, and it was at that time that the problem occurred. Why did you need to refresh it? Were you having performance issues? How long had the computer been running before it was necessary to refresh it by re-booting?

BTW: After seeing the STOP 7B error message, there was little/no chance that the lkgc x 10 times would have any chance of making a difference. Sorry.

My PC was working fine just before I re-started it. I didn't notice any indication of malware, though I must mention that my Avast! installation had expired a couple of months ago and thus was not allowed to update definitions anymore, though it's other functions still worked. Even still, I've regularly run Malwarebytes and Super Anti-Spyware, as well as virus scans, and have often come up with nothing. I just brought that up as it was suggested to me elsewhere.

I re-started my PC just out of habit, and also because the CPU regularly runs so hot (between 70-74 degrees). Not sure if it's because its fans are failing, or because it lacks thermal grease. Whenever I start it up in the morning, the CPU runs at its default 3.20 GHz, but after a couple of minutes, when it gets "warmed up", it downclocks to 2.6 GHz.

OK, thanks, we shall continue on in that case.

0x0000007B: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE
Windows lost access to the system partition or boot volume during the startup process. Typical causes: Installing incorrect device drivers when installing or upgrading storage adapter hardware, or a virus.

Source: http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm


Awhile back you were asked whether it was possible for you to get your hands on (borrow perhaps?) a usable XP installation CD (one of the same type, namely Home or Professional).

Please answer this question now: It is a good time to examine your options on moving forward, so it would be useful to know what options are available.

If you can obtain a usable installation CD, it would enable you to create your own copy of the installation disk, slipstreamed with the latest Service Pack and even include the drivers for your particular system, as you are aware. You would then be able to do the following (among other things) as you wished, and at any time:

• Run the XP Recovery Console, and perform a disk check
• Attempt a repair installation
• Clean install the Windows XP operating system afresh.

The only other XP Installation CD I have is a custom WinXP Home for my Dell Dimension from back in late 2001. The one for my damaged PC is an non-custom CD of WinXP Pro. Would the former work on the latter?

Would the former work on the latter?

No, for the simple reason that it is the "Home" version. Being a DELL OEM CD, it may not have worked either, even if it was the same version. The DELL OEM CD may or may not provide the Recovery Console utility (for this, the XP version does not matter): You would have to try it to find that out.

There is a way to get the Recovery Console for you, so that is not a big issue.

Are you able to get your hands on the correct disk (one that is usable)?

You will need a installation Cd that is of the same version as yours, eg. Home or Professional.

If you can produce such a CD, then I would suggest doing a repair installation. This will repair the damaged files and won't affect your other files.

Boot the computer from the XP CD. You may need to change boot order in the BIOS so that the CD-ROM is the first device in the boot order.

When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below

This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

Press Enter to start the Windows Setup.

To setup Windows XP now and Repair Install , press ENTER.
You do not want to choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R.

Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.

Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair. If Repair isn't one of the option end the installation, this will mean that you will need to do a fresh installation of XP.

The repair will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot, the repair installation will continue after the reboot.

I used the XP Home CD that came with my Dell, since the XP Pro CD that came with my now-damaged PC is too scratched up/corrupted to even reach Setup without failing to do so. AustrAlien mentioned that the Recovery Console isn't dependent on XP version so that's what made me try it out. I followed your advice though, but on the list of Windows installations, I just get four listings of:

Unknown Disk
<There is no disk in this drive.>

Could this mean that my HDD has given up its ghost? So what know?

Enter the BIOS Setup Menu (usually by tapping the DEL key, after pressing the ON button).

Look for the HDD configuration. Change the way it is configured from "RAID ON" to "RAID autodetect/ATA/IDE compatible" .... or words to that effect (depending on your particular Bios version. Choose to Save and Exit the Setup Menu, and allow the computer to restart. Now try rebooting with the CD.

-----------------

Start the Recovery Console using a Windows XP installation CD:

• Insert the CD in the computer's optical disk drive tray.
• Start or re-start the computer so that it boots from the CD. You may be prompted to "Press any key". (If the system does not appear to be booting from the CD, you may need to enter the BIOS Setup Menu and change the boot order, so that the CD-ROM/optical disk drive is set to boot before the hard disk drive.)
• When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press the R key on your keyboard to start the Recovery Console.
• The Recovery Console will ask which Windows installation you would like to log on to. If you have multiple Windows installations, it will list each one, and you would type the number associated with the installation you would like to work on and press the <ENTER> key. If you have just one Windows installation, type 1 and press <ENTER>.
• You will be prompted for the Administrator's password. If there is no password, (and this is most likely), simply press <ENTER>.
• You will be presented with a C:\Windows> prompt. (Please advise if you are not seeing a C:\WINDOWS> prompt.)

At the C:\Windows> prompt, type chkdsk /r and press <ENTER> (Note: There is a space between "chkdsk" and "/r")

• This will take some time to run and at times may appear stalled but just let it run.
• If any errors are found/repairs made, run chkdsk /r again, and repeat if necessary.

Type "exit" at the prompt and press <ENTER> to close the Recovery Console and restart your system.

Does Windows start normally now?

I did as you said (switched from RAID to ATA Mode in the BIOS, turned on Recovery Console via my Dell's XP CD), except that no Windows installations were listed, it just went straight to the prompt. I typed in "chkdsk /r", and almost immediately got a message saying that "This volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems". When I tried Setup again, there were still no volumes or installations listed.

EDIT!: I rebooted my PC after trying this, and it booted normally again!!! I immediately connected it to my modem, updated MBAM and SuperAntiSpyware and ran quick scans with both of them. Nothing came up, and otherwise everything is as I left it a couple of days ago. I'm typing this from it as I speak. Also, my first instinct when this happened was to open up the CPU compartment of this compact desktop (which I've never done) and spray and clear out all of the accumulated dust in the area, including the heatsink and the nearby fans. And boy was there a lot of it! Now, upon checking out the CPU temperature on Lavalys, it's running nearly 20 degrees cooler at 56 (down from 74), and the clock speed remains at its original 3200 MHz! Do CPU's tend to downclock when temps are too high!

I'll post again in a bit if there's any further problems.

EDIT!: I rebooted my PC after trying this, and it booted normally again!!!

That was a lucky break indeed: Let's hope your luck continues in that fashion. Please continue with the following instructions, and with a bit of luck, we might be able to prevent it happening again. Can you re-start the system successfully now?


The first thing that you should do is to check that your hard drive is not failing. On a working computer, download the diagnostic utility from the hard drive manufacturer's website to create a bootable floppy or CD.

• Find the brand name of your hard drive. You will find this info on the label of the hard drive (most likely you will have to remove the hard drive from the box to read the label). You will also find sufficient info to identify the drive (the model number) by looking at the hdd code in the BIOS Setup Menu, and then googling the code. Another alternative is to use something like Everest or Belarc Advisor.
  
  
  • EVEREST Free Edition 2.20 <<< You have Lavalys
    http://majorgeeks.com/download4181.html
  • Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit (Version 8.1b)
    http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html (Version 8.1b)
  • Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities
    http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
  • Hard Drive Installation and Diagnostic Tools
    http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic28744.html
  • For Toshiba hard drives
    http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=ServicesSupport/FujitsuDrivesUSandCanada/SoftwareUtilities#diagnostic
• If you have trouble identifying your hard drive manufacturer, use the Hitachi diagnostic utility: It will work with most hard drives.

To make a bootable CD, download the .ISO image to your computer. If you don't have a suitable burning program, download ImgBurn and install it. Open ImgBurn, and choose to "Write image file to disc", and then navigate to the .ISO file that you have just downloaded. The completed CD will then be bootable.

Boot the afflicted machine with with the CD that you have just burned, and run the short/quick test and if that passes, then the long/extended test. If the hard drive tests show NO problems what-so-ever with the hard drive, then it is safe to proceed with more work to check and fix any disk file system corruption.

Note : If you do not know how to set your computer to boot from CD, see the following link:
How to Set BIOS to Boot from CDROM:
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bios-boot-cdrom


If there is no problem what-so-ever with the hard drive as shown by the above test ... and if your computer is still booting into Windows OK, continue with the next step.


Use the Windows Error checking utility (Check Disk), with the option to "Automatically fix file system errors".

• Open "My Computer"
• Right-click on the drive that you wish to check (C: drive/your System drive) > Properties > Tools > and in the "Error checking" section, click on "Check now".
• Place a tick in the upper box ONLY "Automatically fix file system errors" > Start.
• A message will notify you that a restart is necessary: Click OK, and close all windows.
• Re-start the computer. The disk will be checked when the system boots.
  This test will take some time to run and at times may appear stalled but just let it run.
• When the disk check is complete, the system will re-start automatically and load Windows.
• If any errors were found, it may be prudent to repeat Check Disk.

Find the log produced by the Error Check (Check Disk), and post it to the forum.
A log of the disk check is recorded (only if the scheduled re-start is used).
To open Event Viewer and view the log:

• Go to Start > Run > and type eventvwr and press the <ENTER> key.
• In the left pane, click on Application.
• In the right pane, at the top, click on the column heading Source to sort the list alphabetically.
• Look in the Source column for "Winlogon", with an entry corresponding to the date and time of the disk check.
• Double-click on that entry to view the log.
• Click on the "copy" button to copy the log to the clipboard.
• Paste the log text into your next reply.

Edit: Dave, when adding new information it is usually best to use "Add Reply" rather than edit your existing post so that your helper is notified. I didn't see your good news until I went to reply to your initial post (about 6 hours later).

Well, I found and downloaded my hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility: there were three versions of it: DOS (Floppy), DOS (CD), and Windows. I downloaded the last one, and so far have run the quick/SMART test, which completed quickly and showed that everything is A-OK.

I'd already run an Error Disk Check last night; it was one of the first things I did when I got back access to my PC. Here's the log:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Winlogon
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1001
Date: 11/25/2010
Time: 12:38:50 AM
User: N/A
Computer: CLEVO
Description:
Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 50 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 50 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 50 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.

78148160 KB total disk space.
25857900 KB in 65319 files.
28396 KB in 10733 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
189800 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
52072064 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
19537040 total allocation units on disk.
13018016 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 43 01 00 1e 29 01 00 62 a7 01 00 00 00 00 00 .C...)..b.......
ba 04 00 00 04 00 00 00 61 0a 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........a.......
a4 1a 6a 04 00 00 00 00 90 37 ff 38 00 00 00 00 ..j......7.8....
d4 e8 4c 0a 00 00 00 00 7e 40 bd 99 03 00 00 00 ..L.....~@......
ea 48 87 be 04 00 00 00 54 0b a7 aa 08 00 00 00 .H......T.......
00 91 be be 00 00 00 00 98 38 07 00 27 ff 00 00 .........8..'...
00 00 00 00 00 b0 3d 2a 06 00 00 00 ed 29 00 00 ......=*.....)..

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.


For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

From the numerous disk checks I've run on this PC in the past, I don't ever recall getting any error prompts or warnings.

Going somewhat off-topic, I find that, despite optimizing my PC as much as possible, and cutting down on the number of boot-up programs, it takes quite a while to boot up: about 3-5 minutes from turn on to Welcome screen. It especially takes long on the "progress bar" screen, and goes blank for awhile inbetween that and the Welcome screen. When I finally log in though, everything runs smoothly. Is this something wrong with my Windows installation or with the hardware, particularly the HDD?

... I found and downloaded my hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility... and so far have run the quick/SMART test, which completed quickly and showed that everything is A-OK.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 50 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 50 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 50 unused security descriptors.

Do you see an option for long/extended test with the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility? If so, please run it and report the result.

Please run the disk Error Check again, as you did before, and post the log.

... despite optimizing my PC as much as possible ... it takes quite a while to boot up: about 3-5 minutes from turn on to Welcome screen ... Is this something wrong with my Windows installation or with the hardware, particularly the HDD?

Perhaps that is something you would like to investigate further? It might be best to start a new topic for this subject, in order to attract some input from other members. There are a lot of factors to be considered: However, I would be pleased if my own computer would achieve that sort of start up time.

Well, it didn't even take a week after getting my PC to work again for it to crap out again, as I'm faced with yet another problem. (I'm once again on my older, Dell PC) It won't boot up at all now, not even showing the Windows XP logo or the progress bar. It just shows nothing after the BIOS check. Not even in Safe Mode. The last time I turned it off was this afternoon, and just like the last time everything seemed fine before I turned it off.

Should I make a different thread about this or continue asking here?

Dave, you previously wrote "Well, I found and downloaded my hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility: there were three versions of it: DOS (Floppy), DOS (CD), and Windows. I downloaded the last one, and so far have run the quick/SMART test, which completed quickly and showed that everything is A-OK."

You should now test the HDD using the "Long test".

Since your system is back to not booting again, you now need to download the "DOS (CD)" version of your manufacturer's diagnostic utility, and burn the image to CD. The CD should then be bootable. Boot from the CD and run the "Long test".
You may be given the opportunity to effect a repair after completion of the Long test, should any errors be found, or you might just get a FAIL message.

What is the brand of the HDD?