My xpsp2 died

[V S Rawat]

I am back to win98se.

My honeymoon to xpsp2 lasted less than a week.

And one fine evening, it displayed the blue screen of death
having the message "STOP: c000021a {fatal system error} windows
logon process system process terminated unexpectedly with a
status of 0xc0000018 (0x00000000 0x00000000).
The system has been shut down."

It worked like a dream come true during those few days, and I
was so happy.

The immediate cause, as I see, was "Automatic Updates".

I have 64kbps unlimited connection, so I dared set it up to
download the updates automatically and "ask me before updating".

At first it prompted me for two updates (I asked a question in
this ng as to where is it keeping those updates.)

But, then, that evening it asked me again, and I allowed it
update. It kept on updating after updating various things, and
then prompted me to restart the system. I was working in word,
so I continued working without restarting for some time, during
which it prompted several time.

Then I gave in, and restarted it.

It shut down, and tried to boot up again, but the above
mentioned error was displayed on blue screen, and it could never
start in next 10 times I tried to bring it to life again.

-----------
What had happened?
How can I prevent it from recurring?

I am scared shitless of such things. 98se never gave such shock.

Also, I have downloaded and installed several software on xp
during that week, as was required for my work and leisure. And
every hardware and software worked as a charm. So, I can't see
anyone causing any problem.

I have installed 98se again, now in e:, whereas my dead xpsp2 is
still there in c:. Is there any way I can bring it to life
again, to avoid all those reinstallations of dozens of software?

When I tried to run xp setup again, it warned me that all
previous installation files and folders will get over written.

Please help me in taming this unpredictable monkey.
--

 

[Joe K]

I am back to win98se.

My honeymoon to xpsp2 lasted less than a week.

And one fine evening, it displayed the blue screen of death
having the message "STOP: c000021a {fatal system error} windows
logon process system process terminated unexpectedly with a
status of 0xc0000018 (0x00000000 0x00000000).
The system has been shut down."

It worked like a dream come true during those few days, and I
was so happy.

The immediate cause, as I see, was "Automatic Updates".

I have 64kbps unlimited connection, so I dared set it up to
download the updates automatically and "ask me before updating".

At first it prompted me for two updates (I asked a question in
this ng as to where is it keeping those updates.)

But, then, that evening it asked me again, and I allowed it
update. It kept on updating after updating various things, and
then prompted me to restart the system. I was working in word,
so I continued working without restarting for some time, during
which it prompted several time.

Then I gave in, and restarted it.

It shut down, and tried to boot up again, but the above
mentioned error was displayed on blue screen, and it could never
start in next 10 times I tried to bring it to life again.

-----------
What had happened?
How can I prevent it from recurring?

I am scared shitless of such things. 98se never gave such shock.

Also, I have downloaded and installed several software on xp
during that week, as was required for my work and leisure. And
every hardware and software worked as a charm. So, I can't see
anyone causing any problem.

I have installed 98se again, now in e:, whereas my dead xpsp2 is
still there in c:. Is there any way I can bring it to life
again, to avoid all those reinstallations of dozens of software?

When I tried to run xp setup again, it warned me that all
previous installation files and folders will get over written.

Please help me in taming this unpredictable monkey.

I would reformat and reinstall XP which will take a while. Along with
all the updates.
Put in as much RAM as you can afford.
Before formatting do a scandisk which will be done upon reboot.
I learn from combing thru OS to see if I can fix problem but find time
is a factor so I just reinstall.
I have xp on an old 98SE 400mhz. It works ok.
Maybe others can help as you may have a boot up problem with 98SE on
another drive/partition.

 

[Doug Kanter]

Is there someone nearby who will do a clean install for you, in return for
money? XP's actually quite stable and predictable. When it screws up badly,
it's almost always due to something that can be attributed to the user.

 

[NoStop]

I am back to win98se.

My honeymoon to xpsp2 lasted less than a week.

And one fine evening, it displayed the blue screen of death
having the message "STOP: c000021a {fatal system error} windows
logon process system process terminated unexpectedly with a
status of 0xc0000018 (0x00000000 0x00000000).
The system has been shut down."

It worked like a dream come true during those few days, and I
was so happy.

The immediate cause, as I see, was "Automatic Updates".

I have 64kbps unlimited connection, so I dared set it up to
download the updates automatically and "ask me before updating".

At first it prompted me for two updates (I asked a question in
this ng as to where is it keeping those updates.)

But, then, that evening it asked me again, and I allowed it
update. It kept on updating after updating various things, and
then prompted me to restart the system. I was working in word,
so I continued working without restarting for some time, during
which it prompted several time.

Then I gave in, and restarted it.

It shut down, and tried to boot up again, but the above
mentioned error was displayed on blue screen, and it could never
start in next 10 times I tried to bring it to life again.

Install a REAL operating system like Linux and this kind of silliness will
be over.

 

[vsrawat]

I have deleted all xpsp2 related folders from c:, and reinstalled
xpsp2.

It is working fine ever since, though it took lot of time to set
everything.

This time I have switched off automatic updates, as I feel that was the
real culprit.

98se is also working in e:, but I never needed to log on to that ever
since xp started working.

thanks and regards.

 

[vsrawat]

Is there someone nearby who will do a clean install for you, in return for
money? XP's actually quite stable and predictable. When it screws up badly,
it's almost always due to something that can be attributed to the user.

Sorry if I appear to be boasting, but I have been using computers for
last 23 years, and have home pc for last 8 years or so, with net. I had
used 95, 98, 98se, xp, and also had some feel of Linux. I did it all by
learning and tweaking myself.

I mean to say, that xp setup is one of the simplest as it asks minimum
questions compared to 95 or 98. You run the setup and it does most of
the things itself.

In that case, I would sure like to know what more can I do to have a
clean install. previously I have installed xp four or five times on a
formatted partition. Wouldn't that suffice?

As far as the problem is concerned, I do think that "automatic update"
was the immediate cause of these. I had installed many a software in
that xp, but I have reinstalled all those, and some more, after
reinstalling xp and all is well now. Only that I have kept automatic
updates safely off this time.

I am all ears to any tip/ suggestion.

thanks.

 

[Doug Kanter]

I have deleted all xpsp2 related folders from c:, and reinstalled
xpsp2.

This might be a clue. Somewhere in the world, there may be a few people who
know EXACTLY what changes are made when XP is installed, and can "delete
related folders" accurately. Unfortunately, you and I don't know these
things, nor do we know anyone who does.

Although I know it's possible to have more than one OS on a hard disk, I
think it could also make it a bit complicated to diagnose odd problems. I
would want the cleanest possible installation, free of any random variations
which I cannot deal with. That means reformatting the hard disk, and
starting truly clean.