Stop Message - Need Help Interpreting

[Guest]

I get the following Windows Stop message

STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005,0x00000000,0xF7A2D0BC,0xF7A2CDB8).

Unfortunately, the system does not list a driver name of any sort. This is
a Dell Dimension 9100 with AGP video Card, 1GB of memory, P4 Processor, etc.

However, if I add the /sos option or /basevideo option to my boot.ini
string, the system boots up fine.

Can someone tell me what windows does differently when I add such options to
the boot.ini string? If I remove the options, I get the Windows stop error
again.

I have removed all drivers and re-installed accordingly. Still no progress.

 

[Guest]

Fixed it!

It turned out that the IPVNMON.sys driver was the culprit. I renamed the
file and the system boots up beautifully!

 

[Guest]

How did you locate/identify the faulty driver or file?

 

[Guest]

I went to the \windows\system32\drivers directory and identified all 3rd
party vendor driver files. There were two in the directory. I then renamed
both and restarted windows. Sure enough, the system booted up. Then, I did
process of elimination to determine the culprit file.

 

[Guest]

I guess then to continue, how did you identify/classify them as 3rd party?

 

[Guest]

I guess another question would be if there is a stop message, are you still
somehow able to get into system?
How?
How did you edit boot.ini file?