Massive computer failure, please help .....

R

Richard Hale

I recently had a problem on my computer where Internet explorer was not
working and would'nt open, and no windows based functions that used the
explorer interface would work... So i downloaded the IE7 install package on
my other computer and burned to disk to install.... everything was going
along fine, and when prompted to restart to finsih the installation i did
so..... that is when "it" hit the fan..... upon restart i got this message.

autochk program not found skipping autochk

STOP:C000021A {FATAL SYSTEM ERROR}

THE SESSION MANAGER INITIALIZATION SYSTEM PROCESS TERMINATED UNEXPECTEDLY
WITH A STATUS OF 0XC000003A
(0X00000000 0X00000000)
THE SYSTEM HAS SHUT DOWN


I then tried to start in safemode, last known good configuration, and
command prompt .. and none will work..... Please help... i am at a loss at
the moment.

Thank you in advance.
 
M

Mark L. Ferguson

Your 21a error is indicating a loss of your boot record for Vista. This in
turn would suggest that the hard drive is failing. Use your recovery options
to open the recovery Command Prompt, and run the command :
chkdsk /r

Then run bootrec to see what it can fix.
How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to
troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows Vista:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us

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Mark L. Ferguson
..
 
R

Richard Hale

But it's not VISTA .. it's XP .. Would it still be the same problem? and
same Fix?
 
J

John John (MVP)

I think Mark may have gotten his post mixed up with another post. I
don't think that the boot record is the problem, the boot process has
found the Windows intallation and has started the Windows boot process,
there is a hitch when the Session Manager starts, that is well past the
boot record phase.

John
 
A

Anna

Richard Hale said:
But it's not VISTA .. it's XP .. Would it still be the same problem? and
same Fix?
Click to expand...


Richard:
You can try the bootcfg /rebuild command (accessed through the Recovery
Console via the XP installation CD) as Mark suggests, but I have my doubts
that will correct your problem.

First of all we'll assume there are no hardware issues involved here, e.g.,
a defective HDD or other hardware problems...

We'll further presume that your have an XP installation CD and you're able
to access the XP Recovery Console...
see - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

Enter the chkdsk /r command. Perhaps you'll be lucky and the chkdsk process
will correct any existing OS corruption to the point where the drive will
become bootable & functional once again.

If that doesn't correct the problem try invoking the sfc /scannow command
from the Recovery Console. See http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html for
instructions re using this command.

Assuming neither the chkdsk nor the sfc /scannow commands correct the
problem, it probably would be wise to run a Repair install of the XP OS. I
assume you've never done this before so here's some general info on the
process...

Undertaking a Repair install of the OS is a relatively straightforward &
uncomplicated process. It would be roughly akin to making a fresh install of
the OS, but in nearly every case your existing programs & user-created data
would be retained. Notice I said "nearly". While it would be a rather rare
situation where data would be lost or corrupted as a result of the Repair
install, and as unlikely as it may be, it *could* happen. As a matter of
fact it's not unheard of that further data corruption could even be caused
by using the chkdsk command referred to above. Again, it's a relatively rare
event that a loss or corruption of data will occur even when the chkdsk /r
command or Repair install is unsuccessful, but it *can* happen. So I want
you to be aware of this.

There are a number of websites that contain step-by-step instructions for
undertaking a Repair install. Let me assure you that it's not a difficult
process and not terribly time-consuming. It's roughly similar to making a
fresh install of the XP OS. If you do a Google search on "XP repair
install", you'll be pointed to many of these sites. Here are a few...
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=138
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxppro/installxpcdrepair/indexfullpage.htm

Assuming the chkdsk process or Repair install is successful, you should use
your A-V program to immediately check out your PC for any virus infestation.
Also, you will need to download/install *all* the MS critical updates since
SP2. (I'm assuming that if you undertake this Repair install of the XP OS,
you will be doing so with a XP installation CD that contains SP2). That, of
course, is one of the downsides re undertaking a Repair install in that it's
usually an onerous time-consuming task to download all the Critical Updates
from MS especially if you have a dialup phone connection rather than
broadband.
Anna
 

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