Hi
Well spotted on the two item3's…..
I suggest we keep chkdsk /r up our sleeve for the time being….. (may be needed later)
The '7E stop error is often a driver issue, sometimes a hardware issue, and sometimes because your hard drive is too full
We can rule out your drive being too full as the work you did with Ken eliminated that possibility….
To get a quick handle on if a USB device or your Internet connection is involved please try this:
1 Physically disconnect any USB device from your machine and your Internet connection wire, remove any CD's DVD's from drives bays (including floppies (if you have anA drive fitted) make sure all peripherals, scanners, printers, copiers Ipods etc are disconnected and see if you can boot up…
2 If you get the same error as before then I recommend the next step if for you to check out your backup for accuracy and reproducibility……its rarely too late to do this…… if you find that you have some work/data that needs to be backed up/archived/copied to removable media then complete this step now before you go any further.
3 As other folks may read this (as well as you) I'll include instructions on how I would recommend folks go about backing stuff up when the machine won't boot into Windows…….however if you need to back up anything now, its fine to use your regular procedure (as long as it's effective, and you are happy with it!)
Back up when you can't boot into Windows
A) Please take the opportunity now to bring your back up/archive/copy of all your important stuff 100% up to date, check that it's accurate, reproducible and held securely on removable media (not your hard drive)……
the idea here is to ensure that all your important data, files, spreadsheets, work, music, emails, log in details, user names, address book, drivers, letters, invoices, videos etc….in fact everything that is important to you (stuff that you would not like to permanently lose) is kept safe on external media.
Whilst you are doing this collect together all your application installation discs (or downloaded installation executables) serial numbers, product licence keys (including the one for Windows itself and the Microsoft Windows installation disc and or Manufacturer's Restore and Driver/utilities discs.
If you have made a "disc image" using Paragon, Acronis, Ghost or one of the free disc imaging alternatives then keep this image safe also on removable media, verify it for correctness and reproducibility and ensure you have made a bootable CD/DVD for use in the event that Windows will not start.
Download Linux Puppy from here:
http://puppylinux.org/main/index.php?file=…g%20Started.htm
Its a download of only about 100MB, so a broadband connection is advisable for the download… Puppy is an alternative operating system….. it does not need Windows to run, and the licence to use it is free of charge and comes included automatically. It is different in its interface from Windows, but sufficiently intuitive for most folks to use it successfully without problem.
C) Burn to CD ROM the iso ( that you have downloaded) as an "image"…it must be as an image, a copy will not work!……..Imgburn is good for this, available from here:
http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
D) Set Bios to Boot from CD as first priority…on most Dells it's F2 to enter the Bios (set up) otherwise try F12, Esc or Del.Your hard drive should be next in priority followed by USB/network if the settings provide these options. Remember to save your altered settings in the Bios before exiting
E) With your external back up media plugged in to a USB port I.E. External USB hard drive, flash drive etc and the Linux Puppy CD ROM inserted into the CD drive, close down your machine and:
F) Boot from the CD, you may get a message to "press any key to continue booting from CD" so allow this, Now follow the on-screen Linux Puppy prompts (remember don't install it) let it run in memory, it will be quite happy doing so, and will allow you access to your Hard drive so you can copy off to your external media anything you need. You will soon get used to Puppy and you'll find that you will be able to use the Internet and do most things that you want to do. However as you nned to back up stuff, I suggest you concentrate on copying off your important stuff.
Now that your back up/copy/archive is all safe on removable media we can concentrate on the stop error….
Here's some of the windows updates that I think might be involved:
Security Update for Windows XP
-KB977165
-KB978706
-KB977914
-KB975560
-KB978251
-KB975713
-KB978037
-KB971468
-KB890830 (Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - February 2010)
-KB978262 (Cumulative Security Update for ActiveX Killbits for Windows XP)
you can follow the procedures that were outlined in the article I linked in my previous post (if you are comfortable with them) and I'd recommend that you start by uninstalling KB977165 first.
Here's a link to a further topic that covers similar ground:
http://forums.techguy.org/windows-xp/90167…ls-boot-up.html
I would refer you to the fix procedure outlined by Amir1972 in post 15 of the above and set out here below:
1. Boot from your Windows XP CD and start the recovery console. (by the way. I didn't need the Windows CD since I had previously installed the recovery console under Windows http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/en-us). You may need to press F6 while RC loads in order to load SATA drivers; you will then have a c:\WINDOWS console prompt.
2. Type: CD $NtUninstallKB977165$\spuninst (this is the update I had to uninstall to get out of the boot loop, other updates may be uninstalled by changing the directory name to $NtUninstallKBCODE$, where KBCODE is the KB code)
3. Type: BATCH spuninst.txt
4. Type: exit
As I said, I had to to some attempts, and tried uninstalling KB975560 and KB975713 without any result.
Uninstalling KB977165 allowed the Operative System to be fully loaded without any BSOD.
Afterwards, I re-installed KB975560 and KB975713 and rebooted, and everything is still fine.(Credit Amir1972)
Let us know how you get on
Regards
paws
