XP pro - fatal system error

[skewedvision]

My problem computer strikes again, seriously thinking this thing hates me. Was running a game (3d) and it locks up, nothing unusal for me anymore and after waiting to see if i could ctrl-alt-del and shut it down i flipped the reset. Upon booting up XP pro i see this blue screen...

STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
The Windows Logon Process System terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0x00000080 (0x00000000 0x00000000).
The system has been shut down.

My Specs:
Windows XP pro
AMD 2100+
512MB DDR pc2100 crucial (2 dimms)
80G Western Digital Hard Drive
80G Western Digital Hard Drive
Hitachi DVD
Plextor CDRW
Soyo Dragon plus! motherboard
onboard C-media 5.1 audio
550W antec supply
Geforce 4 ti4600 Leadtek

I'll also state that this machine has been a pain in my *** for some time now. Currently my only way to run anything even remotely taxing on the system is to remove all but 1 dimm of ram from my machine (cutting it down to 256), previously i had 786 in it til these lockups started. Yes, i'ved tested the ram and run them sperately all working just fine ... for some reason together they don't play nice.

Soyo's answer to this in their KB was to only use 1 dimm, when i asked for an RMA they just ignored it.

So now i can't even get this thing to load XP, please help.

[Kodo]

are all the DIMM's from the same manufacturer?

[skewedvision]

Yep, all from Crucial. pc2100 ddr 256 each, the first 2 were bought several months before the 3rd but i was rather through on matching up the same ram due to some horror stories i've heard from others.

I'm really wondering if the root of all my problems are steming from that soyo board though. Heard alot of people across other forums saying they worked great for awhile then *poof* lemon.

Keep em comin folks, i really do appreciate all the input i can get on this ... my work is done on this machine and im kinda out of a job until i get this sorted again. Is there anywhere i could maybe take the ram to get tested more in-depth then the downloadable ones do? Not sure if yer local joe at a repair shop can afford a tester for this kinda thing.

[skewedvision]

http://www.majorgeeks.com/vb/showthr...&threadid=7002

Had posted the above on the drivers area of the boards awhile back. Like is said this computer hates me hehe. But on a follow up to the advice from it and other sources i upgraded to a 550w supply from antec, sadly it wasn't a power supply issue.

Maybe the 2 are the same problem i dunno. All i know is that its dead now. Does XP have a way to boot into a safemode so i could atleast transfer my files onto the 2nd HD and reinstall XP (yet again)? Only thing i could figure out was how to get up to a dos prompt using the XP cd, and im not much of a tech for this kinda stuff.

[ICeMaN]

Yup, you can get to Safe Mode in XP by holding down F8 before you see the Windows Logo.

[skewedvision]

Thanks for the info Iceman, got to the option, selected safe mode but the same error occured. Still searching for answers, i will more then likely be upgrading the motherboard shortly as its all i can think to do at this point. But please do keep the help coming.

Also forgot to mention that this machine has eatten 1 hard drive already ... old 13 or so gig IBM deskstar i had. Didn't think much of it til now, figured it was an old part that just died (never did think much of IBMs drives).

[FINgerz]

Hey people,

I've just stumbled accross this page while trying to find a solution to my problem.

I have basically had the exact error as specified above, in that I get the same error message. However - I am using XP home not Pro.

Also, I'm not sure that it is a mobo problem as I have a dual boot system and the problem only occours when rtying to boot into one instal.

I am pretty confused to be honest as I have not installed anything onto the partition for ages and it is very "streamlined" anyway as I use the PC for my audio editing and nothing else and so there is very limited software installed onto the system.

Please Help!

Thanks in advance!

FIN: