Cannot Load Dos! Any Key To Retry....

Hey ya'll,

Can't boot...
I have been trying some other firewalls and AVs. Last night I uninstalled PC-Cillin, rebooted, Downloaded Sygate Firewall...Didn't work for me, uninstalled Sygate, Downloaded (not installed) Comodo and rebooted again. Now...nothing I like to see is there......
I get splash screen from intel...
Cannot load DOS! Any key to retry

Thats as far as I can get......F8 and Del keys do nothing but cause it to start over again....

Thanks for your help.

(edit)
Tried booting from xp cd...it acts like it is going to work, then.......BSOD

***STOP: 0x0000007E (0xc0000005, 0xF76440BF, 0xF7A90208, 0xF7A8FF08)
***pci.sys - Address F76440BF case at F763D000, Datestamp 3b7d855c

When you are installing and then un-installing programs like firewalls and anti-virus programs and other programs the un-install process does not take all of the files back off the system and after a while the registry gets all messed up with entries that go either no where or point to things they should not. This leads to various things like crashes etc.

I did a search thru Google for the 07E error and found this page:

http://www.google.com/search?q=0x0000007E&...:en-US:official

Please take a look thru and see if you can find anything that will help you since there are quite a few different things caused by this.

ThorXP,

Thanks for the reply, I have been searching google also, a lot out there...

But the only time I get the BSOD 07E error is when I try to boot from the XP cd, otherwise, I just get the
Cannot load DOS! Any key to retry (black screen).

I have this (kids) computer available, also with XP Pro. Is there hope of creating a disc from this system to help?

ThoXP

Found my exact error message .......in Korean

So what you are trying to do actually is upgrade windows XP try this

"STOP 0x0000007E" error message after you upgrade to Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=330182

See if anything in here helps and also the Windows XP install disk I do not think is the problem and making a copy of it is not going to help.

Not trying to upgrade...have XP Pro SP2...I was messing with firewalls and AV (installing - un-installing), and suddenly PC won't boot. Only tried XP cd in hopes of running recovery.

Sounds like something got hosed with all the install/uninstall stuff. Thanks for the good copy of the error message - that helps out a lot! Here's a link to a brief description of it: http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.php#0x7e

You can try to load the Recovery Console from the XP CD (if it'll let you do that before the crash) and run fixboot and fixmbr. Or (once again, if it'll let you) you can try to run a repair install of XP: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

If you can't even access that - then it's most likely a hardware problem inside the PC.

To start, try running this free memory tester to check your memory: http://www.memtest86.com/ Let it run for at least 2 hours (overnight is better).

Then to troubleshoot this, you'll have to take most of the stuff out of the PC. First tho' - unplug the PC from the wall and whenever you're inside the case be sure to be grounded to the metal of the case. This will prevent stray static charges from destroying your system.

The only things left should be:
Case
Power Supply
Motherboard
RAM (presumed good from the MemTest application above)
CPU, CPU Cooler and fan
Video card
Floppy drive (may substitute a CD drive - but since your problem revolves around a CD I'd avoid it).
Keyboard

Then attempt to boot from a boot disk ( http://www.bootdisk.com/ ) into DOS. If you get in, then hook the hard drive up and see if it'll still boot. Then try the CD Drive with the Windows CD and see if you can get into setup. Then just keep adding stuff until it stops working - then you've found the problem.

If the problem still occurs with the system stripped down - then it's likely a problem with one of the components that were present. Try replacing each one (borrow 'em or buy from a store that has a return policy) until you narrow it down.
Monitor

usasma,

Thanks for all that info,

I have tried re-seating cards, RAM, cables...Time to DIG A LITTLE DEEPER...

I'll get started, and post back what I find...

Thanks again

Well,

I tried removing some RAM and changing them in the #1 slot, and it booted! (thought RAM was bad)
Went to system restore to go back before I started messing with the firewalls, and after system restore reboot, same 'Cannot load DOS! Any key to retry' message...Hardware?

I have a very stupid question...

I found that I had a blank floppy in my pc when I started to do the boot disc test....

Could that be the cause of all this? After removing it, pc booted fine, and has 4 times since....

(EDIT) Please forgive the ignorance/stupidity. Not only am I embarrased that I missed the floppy, but even more that I posted, and wasted your time.

But Thank You just the same. As always, it is very much appreciated!

Could that be the cause of all this? After removing it, pc booted fine, and has 4 times since....

Yes. Seems you have answered your own question.

VERY EMBARRASSING!!!

I'm glad you got the problem solved and that it was something simple.

As for being embarrassed, don't be. We all have our moments. Besides someone else may have the same problem needing the same solution but not realize it.

Orange Blossom

Some brilliant moments in my family:

My uncle called in the T.V. repair man because no matter what my uncle tried, the T.V. wouldn't work. The repairman pulled the T.V. out from the wall and discovered it was unplugged.

My brother called the locksmith for the car. While the locksmith was working to unlock the passenger door, my brother noticed that the driver's side window was open.

I spent two hours looking for my keys. I found them in my hand. I kid you not.

My mother put in a roast and set the timer. The roast was still raw after three hours. She forgot to turn the oven on.

Thanks, that helped...

Done similar myself... and ya know, if usasma hadn't suggested what he did, there's no telling how far I would have gone before I found it. bummer

Not a problem! That's how we learn! I can still recall from the old days when I'd do that constantly!

And, on the positive side, you'll remember this. So the next time that someone posts with a similar problem - you've already got a solution for it! (And, remember that the rest of us missed this also!)