7E error at boot

My sis-in-law's notebook (Dell Inspiron 700m, Pentium M 1.60GHz, 512MB, Phoenix Ver A01, XP Home Edition) has suddenly started to give a stop error on boot of 7E. It begins to load win and then defaults to the error screen. I am unable to start with safe mode, etc, since I've tried every option onlt to receive the error message.

The actual message is:

Stop: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0x862C74C9, 0xF7901C50, 0xF790194C)

Any ideas on the cause or how to troubleshoot?

 

have you tried last known good configuration that worked?

That error message relates to a driver error, and can be difficult to troubleshoot

What was the last thing she installed?

 

I did try "last known..." with the same results. I can't enter windows at all; get thrown back to same message. I don't know what she last installed but will ask and get back to everyone. Thanks for the reply.

 

Looking around on Google seems like it's caused by a USB Wireless Adapter. I would remove this if you have one and then try and boot your pc.

 

I don't want to sound stupid but is this an external device? I haven't a clue when it comes to notebooks. There doesn't appear anything attached to the computer externally.

 

There's often a set of tests built-in to Dell notebooks of that era; I think they can be accessed by pressing F12? at boot? I may be wrong with the keystroke and with the model though If you can access that (it's on a separate, hidden section of your hard drive, away from Windows), you should at least be able to run a test on the memory and basic hardware functionality.

 

A wonderful suggestion. It is the F12 key at boot and I'm running the diagnostics now. I'll keep the group posted.

...well, it appears all hardware is in tiptop shape. Having only built my own desktops, how does one access XP's rescue disk from DOS?

 

I think I'd pull any non-vital hardware at this stage and try to boot as 'clean' as possible; begin by reading the Dell manual then remove the modem, any mini-PCI card and the lower memory stick. Start it up and see if it goes any further (you may get a message from the BIOS telling you that something's changed, allow it to update and continue the boot).