BSOD STOP: 0X50 - Computer won't start at all.

ScottRP

Posts: 9   +0
Hi guys,

I'm currently having major issue in starting up my HP laptop currently running Vista SP2. I made a few changes to the startup items in msconfig (for example, Bonjour service etc..) to try and speed startup up, and after the reboot to apply the settings my computer will not start at all. I'm currently studying to become a tech, but I've tried everything I know to try and figure this out, but have had no luck!

The BSOD error screen is the PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA STOP: 0X00000050. This error screen shows just after Windows has loaded the drivers needed for startup and just before the POST checks the hard drive for faults, I recieve this lovely BSOD everytime I try to start it up!

I have tried the primary hard drive self test in the BIOS diagnostics and that's bringing up a failure everytime. The test status is telling me #1- 07 Fail. The same is happening if I try to boot in last know good configration, safe mode, safe mode with cmd, and so on.

The other problem is that this laptop was a hand down from my Mother. It's currently pushing 6 years old now, and is on motherboard number 2, hard drive number 2, disk drive number 2, NIC number 2, and so on.. Also, I have no access to the Vista recovery disk/HP recovery disk as they were unable to be found.

I have a feeling that either my hard drive has failed or that maybe it's a RAM failure?

Hope you guys have an idea of how to sort this problem out!

Many thanks!
 
This is probably the hard drive as you are getting a failure message from the hard drive self test from the diagnostics.

To run a more conclusive test follow this guide.

Identify the make of your hard drive and then use one of the links below to get the manufacturer's diagnostics for ISO (CD) not the one for Windows.

When the download is complete right click the file and select Extract Here and burn the image to a CD.

In Windows 7 right click the extracted file, select Open With, then select Windows Disc Image Burning Tool then follow the prompts. For all other versions of windows (if you do not have an ISO burner) download this free software. ImgBurn
Install the program and start the application. Select the top left hand option to burn image file to disk and then on the next window click on the small yellow folder icon and browse to the file you have downloaded from the links below. Then click on the two grey discs with the arrow in between (bottom left) and leave it to complete the operation.

Boot the PC into the Bios setup and set the CD/DVD drive to 1st in the boot sequence. Insert the disk in the drive then reboot and the disc will load into dos.

Excelstore
Hitachi/IBM
Samsung
Seagate, Maxtor & Quantum
Western Digital

Toshiba/Fujitsu
If you have a Toshiba/Fujitsu hard drive I would suggest the use of the diagnostics from the Seagate link as this will work on all makes of drive and on any OS.
 
Right, I've run a long test on my Toshiba HDD, the results ended up with a failure. Had two errors while scanning, which I believe were from the log file, they were unable to be repaired (hence my computer is still unable to boot.)

I'm assuming that the drive has failed, but a second opinion would be fab!

Thanks again!
 
That sounds fairly conclusive although it does concern me that the failure has coincided with you making changes in MSconfig, can you recall what else you disabled.

The only way to perform more checks is to gain access to the Recovery Console which will require a Vista OS disc or you can make a rescue disc using another Vista PC by following this guide.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/141820-create-recovery-disc.html

As there are only two errors found by the diagnostics these may just be bad sectors. Using the command chkdsk /r from a Commmand Prompt it might get the system going again. You may also have to repair the boot sector which again needs the Command Prompt. With a Vista disc or the Rescue disc this will be possible.
 
The only chnages I made in msconfig were to Bonjour service, iTunes, and Steam. Only to cancel out them loading during startup. I'm pretty sure I never unchecked any system resources.

I have had intermittent problems with this laptop, many BSOD's and failures, but up to now all have been fixed.

Will give the recovery disk a go today (luckily, I have a another computer running Vista to be able to make one!) as I don't own the Vista OS disc.

Will report back with the results!

Many thanks!
 
Quick word of advice, Don't you need the original OS disc to create the recovery CD? Or am I wrong?
 
You will not need the OS disc just a PC that is running Vista with the same bit rate as you have on the problem machine, i.e. if the problem machine is 32bit then you have to make the disc on a PC with 32bit Vista installed.

The process simply replaces a Vista file with an older version that allows the built in Recovery Disc program to function. This program was working in the Beta version of Vista but then, for some unknown reason, Microsoft decided to disable it in the final release.

Let me know when you have the disc ready.
 
Right, made the disc, ran the startup repair and had no luck at all. I have tried the process multiple times and each time it comes back with no errors found.

I have also tried running the system restore, but it is unable to rollback to my restore points from the 6/11/2011. So, the laptop still is unable to boot up even after trying all different methods, including these.

Any suggestions of where/what to try now?

Cheers!
 
Using the Repair disc did you run chkdsk /r from the Command Prompt as I suggested in post 5?
 
Yes, I did give that a try, but it came back saying that the drive is locked (being an NTFS partition) so was unable to perform the task.
 
That is normal, it should have asked if you want to run it at the next reboot, you then type "Y", Enter and then reboot, it should start to run as soon as the PC starts to boot up.
 
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