Win 10 Not Starting, Error: 0xc00000bb

Hi there, this computer is about a year old and runs Windows 10.

It all started innocently enough: I was looking through some old disk image files I have, some bin/cue files I ripped probably 10-15 years ago. But when I found the ones I wanted to access, Win 10 wouldn't let me mount them. It said the images were corrupt. I don't think that's true though, so I figured maybe they were just too old for Win 10 to use properly.

Back when I ripped the disk images I used a program called Alcohol 120%, which aside from ripping and burning discs also created a virtual drive that you could mount your ripped images on (this being well before that feature was built into Windows). So I thought I'd install that program again and see if it would mount the images properly.

I found my old setup file and installed it, but it popped up a message saying this old version of Alcohol wasn't going to work with Windows 10. The message had two options: learn more and close. I hit close thinking it would abort the installation, but it started installing files anyway. Eventually it got to a part around 40% in where it got stuck and the install didn't progress any further. After 10-20 minutes of it doing nothing I used task manager to kill it. Checking the program folder I saw some of it had been installed, but the program crashed when I tried to open it.

So I went to Alcohol 120's site and downloaded the newest version. When I began the setup it said pretty quickly, before anything really installed, that I would have to restart as part of the installation. I had something downloading so I clicked on the option to restart later. At that point I left the computer. A few hours later I came back, the download was long since done and I began the Alcohol setup again. I got another message (different from the first) telling me to restart. So I did.

When the computer restarted, Windows didn't load and it eventually brought up the blue error screen with the code 0xc00000bb: A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed.

My assumption was that trying to install Alcohol had messed something up, which is why I'm posting this in the software section. I went into safe mode and my first thought was to try reloading a system restore point. I had 4 available, one from the day before and then the others between then and New Year's Eve. Unfortunately none of them worked for some reason. They all failed to restore with an 'unknown error'.

In safe mode (with networking) I started doing searches on issues with Alcohol 120%, but I couldn't find anything about Windows not loading after an install attempt. I also did some searches about the error code I was given and found some sites offering advice, but nothing that fit my situation.

I found one site that talked about resolving some issues with Alcohol 120% by removing incomplete installs, which I figured I had. Definitely from the older version I'd tried to install and maybe from the newer version too. So I followed the steps to remove it, basically just deleting the program folder.

I restarted hoping that would take care of the problem. But not only didn't Windows start normally, suddenly I couldn't get into safe mode either. It just hangs, restarts, and brings up the blue error screen just like trying to get into Windows normally does.

I tried the other startup options besides safe mode and nothing helped. When looking for help about the Windows error code, I had seen a site suggesting to put in the Windows install CD and try a startup repair. I did that but it said it was unable to make the repairs.

So basically the computer is useless as both Windows and safe mode won't load. I really have no idea what to do at this point.

Big big thanks in advance for your help!

 

Ran the chkdsk. It didn't say anything bad was found, but did say some corrections were made.

Tried to load windows again and it didn't work, same as before. Safe mode still not working either.

Tried system restore and startup repair too just to see if anything changed, but still nothing.

 

Is there any particular guide you'd suggest on how to go about that? Repair install isn't among the choices when booting from the install CD.

 

Here's all the info you need.
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html

 

It says you can only do a repair install from inside Windows, not at boot. But boot is my only option since I can't get into Windows.

 

Sorry, wrong link.
Here's the correct one.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

 

If you have an AMD processor,it may be the update https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4056892/windows-10-update- kb4056892 that is causing it (Apparently Intel are not affecteed so much.
https://www.techrepublic.com/articl...e331754&bhid=22421369600627503176611114913343

I just thought others at majorgeeks might have noticed this one,and get some input, as you hav not stated your spedifications.

 

Not an AMD processor, that's pretty interesting though.

I did a new install of windows and that seems to have taken care of the problem. I couldn't do a repair install so now I have to go about reinstalling stuff and configuring everything again, but oh well. I wish I knew why the restore points didn't work. After I got it back up and running I created a point and restored it and it worked fine. No idea why it wouldn't before.

Thanks again for the help!

 

Sometimes when a program is uninstalled, it an delete windows files that are needed elsewhere, or, a few hard shutdowns can help corrupt the Windows main files,and it is possible that having a few hickups, led to more file corruption because of those sort of things.
Main thing that matters-You saved those files before it became too bad, and it as just the heartache of re-installing, and going through all the updates.
Well done SlipperyPete