Cannot run in safe mode

I get the BSOD with the stop error ooooooo7e but cannot even run in safe mode. I have tried booting with win xp disc and repair but still get the error. If I could get into the safe mode I might try to fix something.
 
If you can't get into Windows in safe mode that's gonna make it hard to figure out what the problem is. Check out the info here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330182

If none of that helps, maybe try a repair install of Windows. Do you have a current back up of anything important?
 
If you want to backup to your stuff first See [post=766270]How to recover your folders/files when Windows won’t boot[/post]
 
I have things backed up. I was guessing I might have to do a clean install. Never had a case where I could not get into safe mode. I can access my BIOS but that doesn't help and as I said booting from XP cd and repairing still starts up with the BSOD..
Thanks
 
On some occassion, this persistent BSOD even when booting from CD can be caused by faulty hardware or bad hardware connection

Have you disconnected all possible devices?

Also is there an internal card reader?

Turn off/disable whatever you can via BIOS

You might even try connecting a new disk drive (get one you can return, if need be)
 
This is a laptop with nothing but wireless mouse connected via USB. No card reader on this unit. What things should I change in the BIOS since I CAN access it but nothing else. Are you suggesting that my hard drive might be bad?
Thanks much!
 
Pull out the hard drive completely and boot the laptop. You should see the normal startup until you see "no boot device" or something similar... If you get to this point without any BSOD, it may mean that the hard drive is bad. You could have bad memory causing this too
 
More info. I can access the DOS prompt (via recovery console) and I ran chkdsk /r. Of course this took a long time but results were that the disk is OK. However, still get the same BSOD.
Is there some other repair function I can use from the DOS prompt? If not, I guess the next thing is clean reinstall. The laptop that I have the problem is an old one (2004) with an Intel 1.4GHZ, 1MB processor and only 586 mem. It had WinXP Pro installed and still get the splash screen for XP but then the error message.
 
"Of course this took a long time but results were that the disk is OK"...

"Long time" are the operative words here. This hard drive is over 6 years old, and it could be failing its SMART status, with out any notice by running CHKDSK /r. Try installing XP fresh. The successful or unsuccessful OS installation will tell you more
 
Yes the chkdsk did take an hour or more.

just a comment: I don't think an hour or so is necessarily a loong time for chkdsk (especially if it's a large drive)

But regardless of how long it took to run chkdsk, tmagic provides good next step advice. The problem may still ultimately be the hard drive or memory.

Re: SMART data
tmagic makes another good point about SMART data. It made me think
> While i do know a nice simple, user friendly tool to check SMART data when windows is running (CrystalDiskInfo)

> Was curious if anyone know's a tool to check SMART data from a free rescue/ boot CD??
 
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