computer won't boot, blue screen

[rustyoldchevy]

Today I installed a new version of Internet Explorer (version 6 to version 8). When it wanted to reboot I closed all open windows and restarted the system.
While starting, it stopped suddenly and then the blue screen appeared. It reads STOP: c000021a (fatal system error)
I then attempted to start in safe mode. I get the blue screen again and it reads
STOP: c0000135 (unable to locate component) reading on it can't find w32time.dll.
I am running tinyxp on a Sony Vaio VGC-RB30.
I am posting this using another computer that I have. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[cake]

can't help with the exact how-to for your particular situation, but i ran into a similar problem when i did a clean reinstall of desktop XP Home & let "automatic updates" have its merry way. i ended up reformatting again and set updates to "just let me know and don't download & install" and went to the update site and installed everything in the order that made most logical sense to me and only did a little at a time. from IE6 (and any fixes) to IE7 (and any fixes) to IE8 (and only those fixes that didn't involve Live or Searchlight or what have you, since i don't really use IE8).

not sure if you have SP3 and/or that's a factor. i had a problem installing SP3 until i found out MS won't allow if you don't have the original bootscreen (i'm skinned & tweaked). changed my bootscreen back, installed SP3, reloaded my prefered bootscreen (through a program, not by hand) and i've had no issues...other than i use Firefox for everything except Windows updates because MS "says so" and i MUCH prefer Firefox.

not sure if any of this is any help to you, but thought i'd toss out my personal experience with the IE update issues i had and the solution i found that worked.

[cake]

another thought, have you tried "last known good configuration that worked" instead of "safemode"? if there's anyway you can make it on, then try your most recent restore point, that might help.

[rustyoldchevy]

Thanks for the reply Cake.
I tried booting up my copy of the widows "tiny" XP disk in the cd drive and ended up at the same blue screen. What am I doing wrong?

[cake]

and you did have the "boot to rom drive" option available, i'm assuming? don't have this written down, so i'm trying to remember, without rebooting to make sure, but soon as your system starts to boot (where mine says Dell, intel pentium and the A10 bios stuff), press the F2 or F12 key to get into boot options.

my knowledge base is strictly limited to my personal experience with my 6 year old Dell Dimension 4700 XP Home desktop, so you may want to wait for someone with WAY more expertise than me, if you can't get "last known good configuration" to work.

if i couldn't, i'd probably be doing a clean reinstall of Windows since i have an external 500gb drive with everything saved on it and won't lose anything. don't reformat and reinstall unless someone else recommends it. that's just what i've done when i couldn't get online to ask for help and had no other hardware (drives, mobo, graphics/sound card, monitor, power supply) issues. hopefully your rom drive's not fried.

[satrow]

Yes, F12 should be good for boot options on this model.

You should keep trying "Last good conf ... " at least 10 times, it should go back another boot load each time.

[rustyoldchevy]

Tried the last good config. method and got hard error blue screen. I'll take your advise and wait hoping someone can walk me through this.
It sure is tough to be a novice. Thank God there are places like this to come for help!

[rustyoldchevy]

I have tried the reboot to the last good config. for the past 20 minutes now with no success.
Do I really need to format to fix this problem?

[cake]

since i'm no expert, i don't know. also, since i'm no expert, i've reformatted and did a clean reinstall when i had my (different than yours) myriad problems that didn't include any hardware (drives, motherboard, sound/graphics card, processor, cooler, monitor) issues.

and you do have "boot from rom drive" actually available? get to the boot options using F12 to add your cd/dvd drive & change the boot order; i put my rom drive first then changed it back to normal when i was done.

unfortunately, if you DO have to reformat, you'll lose anything on your hard drive if you can't get to your desktop to back it up elsewhere. there is a "repair" option, but i'm completely DOS illiterate and couldn't figure out how to use it.

[satrow]

Hmm, if you can't boot it to get to a repair windows screen, there's little else you can do. Refer back to post 2, where it's mentioned that changing things that MS thought they had locked down breaks the update/repair processes > unless you can track all changes with your version and repair it manually, it looks like you're out of luck.

[rustyoldchevy]

by hitting the f2 button I can get to the screen that will allow me to boot from the cd drive first. Of course, I am hoping not to lose everything, but if there are no other options then I will.
I am also dos illiterate and need someone to give step by step instruction for doing repair from the f2 menu. If anyone can do that for me I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks