PC won't boot to XP or to Repair/Recovery

I am completely baffled.
I have a Dell Dimension E520 that won't boot.
If I let it try to boot regular - it stays forever on the XP screen. Same if I try safe mode or 'last known good configuration'.
What's really odd is if I try to boot to an XP disk - it goes to BSOD before I get a chance to select Repair/Recovery etc.
If I try to boot to another disk (Knoppix or Bart PE) same BSOD.
The message is:
STOP 0X0000007B (0XF7802524, 0XC0000034, 0X00000000, 0X00000000)
I've swapped the RAM out and the PSU - no change.

Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Amber

 

Hi Amber.

None of which seems to fit the BSOD on attempting to boot from a CD/DVD

Dells usually have a diagnostics program built in, can you access it (maybe F12, but I don't remember)?

 

I can boot to Hard Drive Diagnostics - and the hard drive passes.

Boot to Utility Partition is another choice - but if I select this, it says Utility Partition not available.

Amber

 

What happens if you disconnect the HDD and boot from CD/DVD?

 

Aaahh that made it interesting
Without the HDD plugged in - it wouldn't boot to CD.
I plugged in an external dvd drive, and was able to boot to CD - and got to where I could repair XP, but of course the HDD wasn't hooked up.
SO I hooked the HDD back up - but was unable to have it boot to that CD - so I unhooked the internal DVD - and it wouldn't boot even to the screen where I could choose a boot option.
So then I installed a new DVD drive - booted to the cd - and got the same BSOD.
Tried again, this time booting to the external DVD with the new DVD & HDD connected - and was able to boot to Windows disk and prompted to Repair, Recovery or Setup.
Yay!
Tried Repair - chkdsk -was told this disk had unrecoverable errors...
Am trying a reinstall over original os.

Whew!
Amber

 

Did the reinstall complete successfully?

 

Nope.

First oddity (I've never seen before) is that when I select 'Enter' to set up Windows, I get a screen that says "Setup has recognized the following mass storage devices in your computer <none>". My choices are to manually select, or continue.
If I continue - when I get to the screen where I would select which partition to install Windows on - there are four entries - all say unknown disk. From here, if I hit enter, or the up or down arrow, I get a new BSOD - 0x0000008E (0XC0000005, 0xF6FD4754, 0x808070FE, 0X00000000).

Amber

 

Then - when trying again to boot from CD I got:

File symc810.sy caused an unexpected error (18) at line 3540 in D:\xpsp\base\boot\setup\setup.c

Press any key to continue

Then the system reboots.

Amber

 

Ok, it reads like the install can't see your drive correctly because it doesn't have the correct SATA drivers to install. Is there a setting in the BIOS to allow you to change the SATA to IDE/ATA or similar?

The original Dell CD would have had the drivers already integrated.

 

I think it is a problem with it being a SATA drive.

Try hitting F2 during the DEll splash screen and entering BIOS.
Then use arrow keys to go to Drives and hit <enter>
Then use arrow keys to go to SATA operations and hit <enter>
What choices do you have and what is it set on now? You are looking for something that would make it emulate an IDE drive.

(All you need it to do is see the HD long enough to run a chkdisk /r unless you have another plan.)

Sorry, didn't see you there Satrow. Yes, if you have the original Dell CD that would be the easiest.

 

I will look into getting the original Dell CD.

In the setup, under Drives is:

SATA-0 on controller: SerialATA; port: SATA0; BIOS: controlled by RAID BIOS
SATA-1 on DVD drive
SATA-2 port not avail.
SATA-3 port not avail.
SATA-4 off
SATA-5 off
SATA Operation: RAID on

 

Go to Sata Operation and try toggling the options (not sure of the key stroke) look for a setting for changing RAID from "on" to " RAID AUTODETECT /ATA".

 

Yay! That worked.
I was able to get to the repair console - ran a chkdsk /r.
Still won't boot...

Amber

 

Try a repair install now.

 

While I was waiting for the original install disks, I ran SeaTools for DOS - found problems on the drive and repaired them.
Then did a repair/install.
It went most of the way through before prompting me with:
"ngen.exe - Entry Point Not Found - the procedure entry point GetRequestedRuntimeVersion could not be located in the dynamic link library mscoree.dll"
OK was my only choice - then:
".NET Framework Initialization Error - C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.5072\mscorwks.dll could not be loaded" (I think that was the dll name).
Chose OK and it continued.

Then about 15 min later in the install - the ngen error a bunch of times (I just kept pressing ok).
Then it seemed to finish - but has now frozen on reboot...


Amber

 

I forced a reboot - and Windows loaded!!

 

Now it's reading like you're making some progress, Amber!

Check the Device Manager and System/Application logs for devices not loaded, error messages etc. and try to fix them up. Then test with a reboot or two then a full shutdown and cold start. Report back on your progress

 

Ok, device manager shows no issues.

The only error that seems to be unrelated to the fact that I didn't have the internet plugged in when I booted is:
Windows Setup encountered nonfatal errors during installation.
Check setup log - setuperr.log.

This log shows:

"Setup encountered an error while trying to set system security.
An extended error has occurred.

***
Error:
Setup could not register the OLE congtrol C:\Windows\System32\macromed\flash\flash.ocx because DlLRegisterServer returned error 2147647516(8002801c).
***

Microsoft Security Essentials won't turn on - error code is 0x800705b4.

 

Hmm, since Seatools found and fixed some 'problems' earlier, I think it's time to run chckdisk /r again, followed by SFC /scannow and have the CD ready.