Stop 0x0000008E on reinstalling windows after HDD reformat

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hi,

Having real problems trying to resurrect my PC. It crashed after I did loads of fiddling trying to get rid of some spy/adware and then did a system restore using the XP function. The system restore crashed on reboot but I did a manual reboot and got it back to see an error message with my virus scan and then it completely died when I tried to do something. After that it was totally screwed and wouldn't start at all. So took the HDD out and reformatted it so I could do a fresh reinstall. When i reinstall I get the following error message

Stop: 0x0000008e (0xc0000005 0x80610487 0xf894e108 0x00000000)

I've tried taking everything out of the mobo and putting it back with no change. Tried taking the battery out of the mobo and setting the BIOS to defaults with no change. Now I don't seem to be getting any post beeps either - I always used to get one short followed by two short but now nothing at all but it still boots and lets me start the XP install. I did do a lot of reboots when I was fiddling around originally and may have overclocked the cpu. The thing is that the XP install boots from the CD and I can reformat the hard drive and start the installation - it just crashes after the reboot and the XP screen comes up. All fans are spinning fine, led lights up on the mobo and I get the XP screen.

I've seen this may be related to my RAM or my AGP card but as I can start the install and see the XP screen it makes me thing it's not that. I may be wrong but I've spent a week trying to fix it so I'm just pessimistic now. I'll be checking the RAM and AGP tonight but if anybody else has any other suggestions for other things to try then please send them in as I have this nasty feeling I'll be back tomorrow having got nowhere!!! :suspiciou
 
More details from the stop error please...

Please provide the full details of that stop error. Those errors usually have a section where they reference a file that will point us in the right direction.

VERY IMPORTANT - make sure all the timings in your BIOS are set according to the manufacture's specs for the CPU, memory, FSB, and AGP.

If you're using multiple memory modules, take one out and retry. If you get the error again, swap them and try again - this will obviously show you if it's a bad memory module.

Is your hard drive making any funny noises? Noises that you've never heard before? Make sure SMART is enabled in the BIOS.

Post back w/ your results.
 
OK will do but won't be until tomorrow

Stupidly sold my old PC to a friend so I can only correspond and research whilst at work - think I've learnt my lesson there! I'll try a memory test tonight to see if it's the RAM, CPU Cache or a memory leak and will use the mobo's onboard graphics instead of the AGP card. Only got one RAM card but I've borrowed some from work in case it's that.

Will post back the full error message tomorrow - assuming nothing I try tonight works. Hopefully the reply tomorrow will be Hallelujah but I'm a 'bottles half empty' kind of guy! Well who wouldn't be after a week of Blue Screens!! Thanks for your help.
 
Memory Dump Info...

Hey,

When your system BSODs, windows writes the information from you memory, hence memory dump, into a folder called c:\minidmp or c:\minidump or c:\windows\minidump - it's one of those - I can't remember, but anyway, you could attach the contents to the next post if you find the file.
 
Problem solved

Hallelujah problem is now solved. It was the RAM all along. Turns out the person I bought this off of on ebay did not put in Kingston RAM as it said on the listing but used somebody called Matrix. For anyone else getting this error message I would recommend you download and use the Microsoft memory test from:

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Worked a treat and told me exactly what wasn't working. :eek:

So thanks for your help dgower2 - for once Microsoft was right with the error code and provided something that helped me diagnose it. Seen what you said about the minidumps but can you still get those off if you haven't actually installed an OS yet and your HDD has been wiped clean? How do you get a command prompt up to copy the minidumps over as it would be useful to know for the future? Cheers.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back