blue screen of death

dell pc will not boot normally
error 0x0000000a irq not less equal
will not boot in safe mode or with xp cd
attempts in safe mode or cd result in blue sreen 0x0000007b
i ran dells utility and it reports no errors
no new hardware have swapped video card, checked both memory modules,disconnected sound card, and modem all one at a time and still get blue screen.
thinking maybe its a boot virus, but not sure, and if it is how do i scan for it if i cant boot?
any help would be appreciated, thank you

 

wtrby

WELCOME to MajorGeeks Forums.

0x0000000A: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Typically due to a bad driver, or faulty or incompatible hardware or software.

0x0000007B: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE
Windows lost access to the system partition or boot volume during the startup process.
http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

Please provide the pc model details, so that I can try to find the manual if necessary.
Are you aware of any action that may have caused the problem?
What was happening when the problem arose?
Are you using IDE or SATA hard drive?
How many hard drives?

I am thinking that there may be a problem with Windows not being able to recognise the hard drive because of a changed setting in BIOS &/or the SATA drivers are no longer available.

Please disconnect all unnecessary external devices from the system.

If you are using a SATA hard drive, enter the BIOS Setup Menu and find the setting to configure the hard drive ..... look for Raid, AutoRaid/ATA, SATA, AHCI and IDE, ATA. IDE/ATA. The wording of the available options will depend on the particular BIOS in that machine: You need to have it set to emulate ATA/IDE mode (it could look like this AutoRAID/ATA, but definitely not AHCI or SATA), so that Windows does not need to use the SATA drivers.
Save any changes and exit the menu to restart the system.

Does it start normally now?
If not, try Safe Mode.
-------------------------------

You said: "thinking maybe its a boot virus"
Most unlikely. Were you having any malware problems, or was there any sign of malware on the system?