Laptop blue screen when trying to start or repair win xp

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floriauck

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Let me briefly explain how I arrived at this blue screen mess:

- uninstalled zone alarm and avg antivirus
- installed avast antivirus
- ran avast virus scan on boot. found 9 threats and deleted them.
- 1 of the deleted files was windows file. (userinit.exe)
- I was unable to log on to windows. After login, windows immediately logged of and I was back at the log-in screen. (makes sense, the userinit.exe file is missing).

I started to trouble shoot:

1,)
- Got original Windows XP CD and booted with CD. (1. select "to set up windows xp now, press enter". 2. agree to license f8 3. Press R to repair the Windows copy)
- I try to repair win copy like i described above.
- Setup is copying files and at around 50% I get a blue screen.

-> The message is "page fault in nonpaged area" and stop code is 0x00000050
(i have attached screenshot "during_xp_repair.jpg")

2,)
- Tried to install a fresh copy of win in a different direcotry. Again, during copying setup file I receive same blue screen as mentioned above.


3,)
- I did some research about the blue screen and saw that sometimes its hardware related. So, I started taking out one of the RAM pieces to eliminate possible errors. I also swapped all the ram pieces with the ram from a similar working laptop. Neither method helped.
- I swapped cpu with related laptop and that didnt make a difference. Matter of fact, with different cpu, laptop didnt even start. (which is odd, because the different cpu is actually the systems "original" one that I swapped a few years back)

4,) After playing around with the hardware stuff, the system now no longer lets me start up. I turn laptop on, it goes to Windows XP wallpaper and before it can get to the login screen I receive a different blue screen for about 1-2 seconds and then system restarts.

-> message is: "machine_check_exception" and stop code is 0x0000009C
(screenshot "during_xp_startup.jpg" is attached)

To sum up:
- blue screen during repair
- smae blue screen during fresh install in different dir
- blue screen when trying to boot
- same with safemode etc
- i also tried repaid console and did chkdsk c: /f

This is my mother in laws lapto and I simply wanted to install avast and delete some viruses (which worked great). And now I am faced with this situation.

I am not sure what else to do, since I cant even install a fresh copy without getting blue screens. I am sure I could manage to somehow backup the data, but I still need to get the thing working again.

Any help would be apprecated.

Thanks,
Florian
 
how would I get the minidumps from the laptop? is there a guide on where to find them and copy them or open them etc?
 
yes, i posted a link there for you that you could read through. The dumps are usually in your C:\Windows\Minidump folder

Spyder_1386 :)
 
I cant find the minidump folder when i start with cd and go to repair console. I will try some of the other things like clean ram etc.. maybe that will help. anything else i could do without having the minidump files right now?
 
Are you able to login to Windows through Safe Mode? Press F8 on startup repeatedly to get the menu for Safe Mode. You'll be able to get the dumps if you can log in.

You can run Memtest on each of your RAM chips. www.memtest.org ... Allow it to run for a long time - you're looking for a minimum of 7 passes and there are 8 individual tests per pass.

Spyder_1386 :)
 
I can not get into windows at all. I just tried again with safe mode and I get a message saying:"the system is not fully installed. please run setup again"

should i try to take out hdd and install in other laptop to see if i can boot there and get into windows to try to fix stuff or at least find the dump files?
 
The error machine_check_exception definitely means that some hardware component is not functioning. It could be the RAM, a video card, a USB port, Hard drive, anything really. These errors are really hard to diagnose and not having any dumps to analyse makes it even harder. Like I said on my previous post, I would start by checking the RAM with Memtest.

Just to confirm ....
1) Windows is still installed on the system, but you cannot get into it due to the BSOD before the login screen?
2) Also, Safe Mode doesn't work as the initial file that was deleted prevents this?
3) You have run a Chkdsk but this hasn't worked.

Things you could try ...

1) On pressing the F8 key, try the option "Last known good configuration"
2) Try going into Safe Mode with Command prompt and doing a System Restore .... here's how to do that .... http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304449
3) Disconnect one bit of hardware at a time to try and isolate a faulting part.
4) Try your Hard Disk in another computer and do a Chkdsk through that - back up all your data first!

Get back to us with any results.

Spyder_1386 :)
 
- I put the hdd in my other laptop and was able to install a parallel windows. I logged into the paralles windows and restored the missing userinit.exe file and also finished the recovery process. Now I put the hdd back into the problem laptop but I am still getting the BSOD when trying to log on.

- However I am now able to log into the system with safe mode. I found 2 minidump files and have attached to this post.

- I am running the memory test right now. memory test is at test #5 and has not found anything yet.
 
Hey again

This is how I understand the situation:

You were unable to login to Windows initially because the Userinit.exe file (the windows log in file) was missing. Thus, you tried to do a recovery through the XP disc. This was not possible due to BSODs that occurred. You then followed the final suggestion by putting your HD into another computer and restoring through there or by installing a fresh copy of Windows.

You are now able to access Safe Mode (which you were not able to do before). The reason for your BSODs, however, is in my opinion a hardware issue like I had mentioned previously. I have analysed your minidumps and both give me a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION (9c) error with processor.sys being the faulting image and INTTIMERERR - INTERNAL TIMER ERROR showing as the problem. I have not seen this message before and I'm not really sure of where it's originating from - all I can tell you is that some bit of hardware is not functioning correctly or is not configured correctly.

I highly doubt it's the CPU that's the problem (I might be wrong). My guess would be to first check the Power Supply or the Motherboard and Video Card (as you're already testing RAM). The fact that you can get into Safe Mode now tells me that you either don't require as much power (i.e. PS issue) or drivers for a specific component (sound, video, USB etc). For the Motherboard, you could try resetting the CMOS to see if that works. You could wait for other suggestions as well or take it in to the place you bought it or to your local computer store and have them run diagnostics for you (this is what the minidumps suggest you do anyways with this type of error).

Hope this helps - good luck! Do keep us posted so we know how to deal with such problems in the future.

Spyder_1386 :)
 
hi spyder,

the memory did return errors so I replaced it with one unit from my other laptop and I am currently running memtest on it. For some reason I doubt its the RAM because even with the unit from the other laptop, I am unable to login and receive the same BSOD.

the way you describe the situation is exactly how it happened.

couple questions: you said to check motherboard, video card and PS.
- how can I "check" these pieces? Is there a software that I can run in safe mode?
- does uninstalling avg/zonealarm and installing avast have anything to do with producing a hardware failure? the laptop was working fine untill I uninstalled zonealarm and avg and installed avast. or could this be ANY kind of indication to what may be the problem?

thanks for all the help. I think my next step would be to "check" motherboard, video and PS (after I learn how) .. if that fails, I will probably have to take it to a store to get it checked and fixed :(

thanks,
florian
 
Hey

You can try these things .... http://www.ehow.com/how_4431298_test-computer-motherboard.html or http://motherboards.mbarron.net/testing.html for the Motherboard especially. There's tests on those pages for other components as well (usually by means of narrowing down the faulty component - i.e. taking out one at a time to see if reboot is successful). I doubt that the Motherboard itself is the problem, however, loose connections or faulty peripherals on the board itself (i.e components that you cannot remove from the board) could mean Motherbord issues indirectly. Reseat your RAM, make sure your processor fan and PSU fan is free of dust as well.

For the video card, you could unplug it (if you have onboard graphics) or plug in another known working video card (if you dont have onboard) to see if that works. Either way, diagnosing hardware issues are the hardest to do as a dump would hardly ever isolate the problem for you... Try whatever you can by being as careful as you can. Taking it in would be the best option after doing this as they would do the entire testing process for you and then fix it.

As for your question on the Zonealarm uninstall: you could still run the 8-step guide through Safe Mode (as you're now able to access it) and see if that makes any difference. It might remove some viruses and malware that you have but I'm not sure it will alleviate your hardware problem.

I'm sorry that I'm unable to assist you any further in this regard. If you do happen to try anything suggested or if anything changes, please do let me know and we'll take it from there. If your problem gets solved, please do post how it was resolved so that it's available for everyone to view.

Good luck!

Spyder_1386 :)
 
My issue got fixed. I tried to exchange the cpu with my other laptop again and this time it worked. Now, both laptops work again.

I am having some smaller software issues.
1.) some message about generic host process for win32 services pops up everytime i start
2.) documentviewer tries to install itself and I cannot cancel it..

I am pretty sure i will find something in google about both issues.
So, I am happy that I am back and working.

thanks again so much for all the help on the forum.
Seems like something with the cpu was the problem.
 
Glad to know that you found out what the problem was. CPU issues are extremely rare and diagnosing them is even harder - let alone trying to do it over the net lol. Could have been dust or simply the CPU was not seated correctly and something was loose.

As for the software problems you've mentioned, I would recommend you run the 8-step virus/malware removal tool from here .... https://www.techspot.com/community/...lware-removal-preliminary-instructions.58138/ .... and attach your logs to a new thread in the Virus and Malware section of the forum. I have an incling feeling that you're still infected.

It was a pleasure helping out :) .... If you need anything else, please do ask and we'll try to assist as best we can.

Spyder_1386 :)
 
the two errors I am getting is
1.) automatically each time I start windows, a program called documentviewer is trying to install itself. I did research and found some windows installer cleaning tool, but for some reason I cannot run that because it is giving me error message 1500 saying that installation is in process or something..

2.) i am getting an error message with svchost.exe some 0x000000 error message.

should I start new threat for these two?

I will do the virus, but its really annoying to work with the system since I can not cancel the documentviewer installation thing, and the svchost keeps coming up too.
 
Please do run the 8-step tool that I mentioned in my previous post and attach the logs required onto a new thread in the Virus and Malware section. Those errors that you're receiving could very well be because of the viruses and malware on your system. Once you clean those up, the errors should stop as well.

NB: You don't need to post those errors on the thread. Only post your logs from the 8-step. If the errors don't subside after the cleaning, then you can post them again.

Spyder_1386 :)
 
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