Not able to boot

  • Thread starter Thread starter scott
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scott

My Windows XP Pro machine is not booting. I recieve one
of two error messages...

Windows could not start because of an error in the
software
please report the problem as:
load needed DLL for Kernal

or I recieve...

windows could not find
system32\drivers\pci.sys

my problem is compounded when I try to use the recovery
consul. I recieve another message that says...

An unexpected error (141071109) occorred at
line 1768 in d:\xpclient\base\boot\setup\arcdisc.c.

This is interesting as my "D:" drive is a slave drive.
My C:\ drive actually contains my operating system.

I can't even re-boot from the XP disk and reinstall the
Operating systems because I receive this same error
before I'm asked if I want to repair or reinstall.

I don't believe that it's a virus problem. The only
changes that I have made recently is the application of
XP service pack1. But, the machine has been running fine
for several days.

I would just like to be able to launch the Automated
System recovery, but when I do I still get the...

....An unexpected error (141071109) occorred at
line 1768 in d:\xpclient\base\boot\setup\arcdisc.c.

error

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
 
The best thing would be to insert a DOS/NT floppy, format
your drives and reinstall. The errors you get are unlike
I've ever seen.
 
Hi, Scott.

While I disagree with his fix, (I never heard of a DOS/NT floppy!) I do
agree with Peter that those are weird messages! (Even Google can't find
"d:\xpclient\base\boot\setup\arcdisc.c", or any part of it except
"arcdisc".)
I don't believe that it's a virus problem.
Click to expand...

What gives you this confidence? Have you run a virus scan? Recently?

You told us the messages you receive, but you did not tell us what precedes
those messages. Since we can't be there to look over your shoulder, you
will have to tell us what you see - and when you see it.

Could you walk us through your boot process, step by step, starting with
power-on. I would expect several text screens (followed by a boot menu if
you have multiple operating systems installed), then the WinXP logo on a
black screen. Later, there would be a few successive blue screens, some
music, and then the Desktop would appear. After a few seconds, the Desktop
would show your icons and in a few more seconds, WinXP would be ready for
you to enter commands.

Is this the sequence you see? At what point does the first error message
appear? EXACTLY what does it say? I doubt that it actually says "load
needed DLL for Kernal", because Kernel is misspelled. What does it really
say? And the other messages are just as strange (I've not seen them
reported by anyone else). And if you can't even boot from the WinXP CD-ROM,
it just gets curiouser and curiouser. :>( It should be able to boot from
the CD without using ANY of the code on the hard drive. If there's a
problem in doing that, the error may be in your computer's hardware or BIOS
settings.

Do you have another computer that you can use to backup your data? (No need
to back up Windows or your applications; you'll be reinstalling them from
original media, anyhow.) If so, you should back it up, then boot from the
WinXP CD-ROM. Let it reformat your drive and reinstall WinXP. As soon as
you get your firewall and antivirus working and get back online, go to
Windows Update to be sure you have all current fixes, including the one from
July that protects you from the Blaster worm. Then reinstall your
applications and restore your data. You could avoid reinstallation of apps
by doing the in-place upgrade of WinXP itself, but that would by false
economy if the virus or other problem is in the application files.

Maybe someone else will jump in with a better idea, but that's how I see
your situation. ;^{

RC
 
Thanks for your reply... I compounded my sitation with
two typos!

When I turn on the machine, it boots normally through the
bios. I have my PC set to boot from the CD as a
secondary drive. If I don't prompt to boot from CD, it
apparently tries to boot normally. It is then that I now
recieve the following error...

"a disk read error occurred, press ctrl+alt+del to
restart"

If I restart and then attempt to boot from the WindowsXP
CD, after just a few moments I then receieve

An unexpected error (141071109) occorred at
line 1768 in d:\xpclient\base\boot\setup\arcdisp.c.

I've done some subsequent research and have found some
documentation to indict my RAM as the culprit. However,
I don't neccessarily believe that this is the case in my
instance.

I was doing some house cleaning of my D:\ drive (which is
just an additional hard drive I use for media files) and
deleted two folders that were created when I recently
updated windows with the lastest service pack and
critical updates. I didn't think much of it at the time
because I assumed that XP would have written critical
files to the non-operating hard disk. I just assumed
that they were temporary folders that were created during
the dowload and installation process.

But, I did that last night and this morning when I turned
my computer on is when I started experiencing the problem.

I am guessing that windows is looking for those files to
complete the boot, but since they're sitting the the
recycle bin XP can't finish booting.

Not being able to just reinstall windows (which I assume
would be the easiest fix) is really giving me fits.

Thanks again!!
 
Hi, Scott.
I have my PC set to boot from the CD as a
secondary drive.
Click to expand...

I don't understand this sentence. The only way I know to boot from the CD
is to set it as the boot device. In the BIOS, we can set it to boot from
another device first, with the CD second. In that case, the first device
must NOT actually be bootable on the next restart. For example, we could
set it to boot first from the floppy, but then leave the floppy drive empty
or with a non-bootable diskette in it. When we restart, their would be a
delay while the computer checks the floppy and determines that it is
currently non-bootable, then it would go on to the device set (in the BIOS)
to boot next, which might be the CD.

But if we set the boot sequence to be HD, then CD, it would always boot from
the HD unless the HD were unbootable (no system, or no partition marked
Active). There would be no good way to make it boot from the CD.

Can't you set your PC to boot FIRST from the CD drive? Then put the WinXP
CD-ROM in the drive and boot from it. In this case, you load NO CODE from
the HD - at least until MUCH later in the Setup process. At first, you will
just be using code on the CD-ROM to (optionally) repartition and reformat
the HD, then start the installation of WinXP onto the HD. You will copy
many files to the HD, but you will not be executing any code on the HD until
the text portion of Setup is completed (in a half-hour or so) and Setup
reboots from the HD to complete the installation.

I'm getting lost and forgetting the original situation and question here,
Scott, but my previous advice still stands, I think. Either boot from the
WinXP CD-ROM and install WinXP from scratch, after backing up your data.
Or, try the in-place upgrade first (KB article 315431 for details); if your
problems continue after this, you can still back up your data, do a clean
install (including reformat), then reinstall your applications and restore
your data.

Good luck. If you still have problems after this, start a new thread,
leaving out what has been solved and focusing on whatever the then-current
situation is.

RC
 
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