Constant boot cycle, wont allow reformat

I'm running Windows XP SP2 (unfortunately) on an HP Pavilion ze4400 (please don't laugh at me? )
512 MB ram 40 gig HDD, and recently, and for seemingly no reason my computer started to go into a reboot loop.

It allows me to log in, and then bam, BSOD.
After doing the usual startup with automatic restart disabled, I was able to read the following stop error message, along with the usual fatal error message.

0x0000007B (0xF9FD5528, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000).

NO idea what that means, but there you go.
The computer will NOT run in safe mode or safe mode with command prompt, but WILL run in safe mode with networking.
Go figure eh?

After running chkdsk /f, Ccleaner,and Malwarebytes from safemode (I found 32 counts of spyware that had not been there yesterday morning when it did its scheduled scan, and cleaned those), the problem had not been fixed.

Here's the real kicker.

I go 'oh well. All the important stuff's clean and on my removable, I'll just format and start over, its been getting laggy anyways.'

My computer's disc drive doesn't work (Surprise!) Reinstalled/rebooted the drivers, nothing. I'm assuming its a problem with the laser or the reader and needs to be replaced.

So I slave the hard drive into my old laptop (A Dell Latitude c510), which still works by the meanest definition, and attempt to reformat by booting off my Windows XP disc.

When under the f12 menu at bootup, i select DvD/CD, etc. and it kinda completely ignores me and gives me the "Windows did not start properly" message with the normal safe mode menu selections.

After a long string of cuss words, I then tried to replace my old hard drive (a pathetic 20G, but it works on my old laptop), and it gives me the same error message, regardless of which drive I use. So, my logical conclusion is that the problem isn't the drive, but something in the computer itself. What that IS, I have no idea. I suspect it may be my RAM being fried, however I don't have any compatible RAM lying around to test this theory.. (This computer was OMG NEW FANCY in the late 1990's. >.>)

ANY tips at all? I have a HijackThis log saved and attached. Also able to upload if it will make any difference,but looking it over, I don't know if there's anything I shouldn't know about/don't recognize that would need to be deleted. Is there any POINT in trying to fix it?

7B STOP errors/BSODs...are pretty generic, IMO.

See MS documentation at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324103.

A real curveball...running in safe mode with networking, but not safe mode.

Frankly...with a system that old...there are many opportunities for person irritation and "computer situations."

Ultimately, the question will be...should you throw money into keeping a proprietary older computer going...or invest some money in something that is not necessarily today's spiel of the week...but is a decided upgrade over your previous system.

My last 20GB hard drive died last year...and I knew that I was living dangerously by using it more than 5 years.

FWIW: You cannot take a hard drive from System A...and plop it into System B...as the system partition/drive...and expect it to boot the system. It would be extremely coincidental or thoroughly well planned. The normal result for such efforts is often a 7B STOP error. So that one makes sense to me. Different drives, different settings equal BSOD.

Louis

I would try to format using a different optical drive, especially if I could borrow one to troubleshoot with. Make sure your xp disk is clean.

Quite a while back I tried to remove some infections that wouldn't let windows boot unless you were connected to the internet. I just wiped and started over.

Yeah, I know it's ancient. Being unemployed however, its pretty much the only option I have. Next to my Drivers license, its the first thing on my list when I next find a job. >.>

Thanks for the tips, I will try using a different drive, AND try my other older version of XP, see if either of those work. >.>

Edited by Sphinxfalcon, 30 August 2010 - 08:45 PM.