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Stop Error C000021A-how can I fix this mess?
Greetings-I've been getting lovely BSODs for the past week, along with the following error:
STOP C000021A (Fatal System Error)
The session manager initialization system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xC000026C (0x00000000, 0x00000000). The system has been shut down.
System in a nutshell: Windows XP Pro, 1 Gig of RAM, 2-120Gig hard drives run as a RAID 0 setup (one drive mirroring the other), Pentium 4 2.8 GHz processor
First, some background: I tried updating XP with several critical updates and the installation never completed due to some MS software installer problem. Since that time, my system has been really messed up. I tried doing a system restore, but that seemed to make matters worse.
First I lost my sound, and after that problem was solved, I started getting these fatal system errors.
Here is what happens. The system tries to boot and gets past all the screens that tell you what is loading, etc. Then when it gets to the part where the Windows logo comes up, it goes black for a moment and then the Fatal System error screen comes up. It then reboots and goes back through the same loop. On the second pass, instead of showing me the various system user names, some of the following things happen:
Sometimes it boots, gets the fatal system error, reboots, and then runs chkdsk. Then it goes to the user profiles and lets me log in normally. However, on these occasions, the graphics are really messed up. When you scroll down a page, the screen flickers every time like the graphics card is not keeping up.
On another occasion, it booted, I got the fatal system error, it rebooted, and on the second pass, it demanded that I do a product activation for XP. I had no choice but to do this last night.
Also, at one point, Zone Alarm Pro was asking for permission to let stuff through that was already set up. So it would ask if Opera could ask as a server when in fact Opera always had permission. Then it stopped working entirely for a time.
I also got this weird error message when I tried to restart that other people were logged on at the same time (not true) and I might lose data.
Once the product was activated, it logged in normally and everything seemed to run fine. So I shut the system down last night.
This morning, things are worse than ever. Now it starts to boot, does the stop error, reboots and then when it gets to login time, demands that I enter a password. All my profiles except mine have disappeared. I never set up a password for this system, so I bypass this by leaving the password field blank and it lets me in. Also, before it offers up the login box, the screen flickers wildly.
Once I got in, everything seemed hosed. My antivirus software stopped working for a time (now it's back), and every time I tried to launch an application, it crashed. My active desktop also crashed. I also experienced severe crashes when the screensaver kicked in and I came back to the computer. It hung in limbo for a time as it tried to come back to normal operation and ended up rebooting. I've tried to disable the screensaver but when I get to that tab, I get an error that says "Run a DLL as an APP has encountered a problem and needs to close. So I cannot disable the screensaver and I keep experiencing these crashes.
Bottom line: my OS is messed up. I doubt it's a hardware problem, because all the trouble seemed to start when I attempted to patch my system with a critical update.
I've done a lot of reading here about this error message, but I could still use some guidance.
I am not running GoBack on this system.
I doubt my RAM has gone bad or that my system is overheating (I have three case fans).
I've seen the KB article about the registry and loading hives, but that seems to apply to NT and not XP.
I'm wondering if I can do a reinstallation of XP in place. If so, how do I do this? I do not really know how to boot from a CD so maybe some of you can help me there.
If I reinstall in place, does that mean my drivers are intact or do I need to reinstall everything, including all my applications? For obvious reasons, this is a real hassle and will take a lot of time to accomplish. Also, since I am running a RAID system, will that have any impact on how I install the OS?
Right now, OS is installed on C: and all my data files are on D:. If I try to do the registry fix, it wants me to do a parallel installation of XP. I would assume that means it would go on D:.
I hope this provides enough background to give people an idea of what might be going on. At this point, I am ready to ship it back to the shop where I got it for repair, but I would rather not do that if I can fix this myself.
Any help is appreciated.
E. Klisiewicz
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Answers
a reinstall (over the top of the existing install) is called an inplace upgrade
http://support.microsoft.c
Hi elk060,
Take a look at http://www.aumha.org/win5/
Greetings,
LucF
I've already researched the article and www.aumha.org, but it doesn't really tell me anything I don't already know.
Should I do a parallel install or should I attempt to reinstall XP in place?
What are the risks and benefits of each method?
Will either method require me to reinstall all my drivers and third party applications?
I believe my firewall was running but I cannot say for sure.
if the system was hacked, there is no sign of any problem.
My files all seem to be intact and NAV did not indicate any viruses after a system scan.
When I try to run the system file checker, it says 'files that are required to run properly must be copied to the DLL cache', then it asks me to install the XP SP1 installation disk. is this normal?
E
You need to have the XP cd in the cd drive, boot to it, and type r
read this
http://support.microsoft.c
Not the sp1 cd
After my last post, I installed the Recovery Console onto my hard drive because that was one of the suggestions in the KB article.
It never gave me a choice as to where I wanted to put it and it ended up installing RC on the C: drive, the same drive as my OS.
When I start up, I now get a choice as to whether I want to load XP Pro or the Recovery Console. But when I try to use the Recovery Console, it blue screens every time.
So far, I have not discovered how to get to the BIOS. My machine boots so fast that the messages fly by me. Del brings me to the screen with the two OS choices for booting. F8 brings me to the menu with Safe Mode and other stuff mentioned.
So far, everything is failing and I am running out of time and patience.
And wouldn't you know, this week is like the week from hell with business related appointments every night so I won't have much time to do more troubleshooting of this problem.
BTW, I can't get Recovery Console off my system because when I press the Start Menu to get to Control Panels, I get an error message saying Windows Explorer has encountered an error and is shutting down.
EK
I already posted this information above. Did you read my comments?
"My PC is generic and was custom built at a local shop. There is no brand on it.
So I won't know what key stroke will trigger it until I try it."
I also posted all the numbers from the blue screen. Again I quote:
"STOP C000021A (Fatal System Error)
The session manager initialization system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xC000026C (0x00000000, 0x00000000). The system has been shut down."
Sorry. I am not positive about the error message. I did not write it down but it looked the same to me.
I am suffering from a fall I took on some ice today, so I'm in a lot of pain and my patience is wearing thinner than it normally would.
The messages fly by so quickly on boot up that I cannot read them. The only thing I was able to grab was something about Granite Bay (that means nothing to me).
Will try Recovery Console again and see if I can get that error message down. Then I will try Delete key again although I already tried that and it did nothing.
Actually, pressing the keys mentioned above either gave me a choice of what OS I wanted to boot to or other boot options such as safe mode in a different menu.
IN answer to the question about the error message that comes up after I try to use the Recovery Console, here is the best I can come up with:
It says there has been an error and Windows must shut down. It goes on about viruses, etc and then there is the following hexadecimal string
Stop: 0x0000007B and then (0xF7C7D63C, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)
I still don't know how to get Recovery Console off this system. In the Add/Remove Programs applet, it does not appear anywhere and there is no apparent uninstaller (ie-unwise) in the cmdcons directory.
the stop screen
http://support.microsoft.c
I suggest this
http://support.microsoft.c
why uninstal the recovery console?
you can remove it from the boot options by editing the boot.ini
If it is the first choice, boot up, right click on my computer, choose properties, advanced tab, startup and change the boot order there
I wanted to uninstall it from my system because it wasn't working and I kept seeing the BSOD.
It's gone now because I used System Restore to move back to yesterday evening.
However, I am pretty much stuck. I don't know how to specify my F: CD-ROm or E: DVD Rom drive in the BIOS. My primary master setting said something like Auto and when I looked at the choices, CD-ROM was in there so I selected it and saved the settings, but it still booted off C:.
I won't be able to revisit this until Tuesday.
Thanks for trying to help.
Elizabeth
Also, here is a link to a pretty good Bios guide:
http://burks.bton.ac.uk/bu
or Tom's Hardware:
http://www.tomshardware.co
Hi gang-This is my last post for tonight. I ended up doing an installation in place because nothing else was working for me.
So I am up and running to some extent, but the installation for my graphics card drivers appears to be screwed up. When the system boots and gets to the desktop, I am viewing it in 4 bit color at 800x600. My MSI card is capable of far higher resolutions than that but when you go to Display properties, you can't change the settings. It also reports the driver as not being digitally signed but otherwise working fine.
I tried installing the drivers from my MSI install disk but ended up blue screening so I used the Last Known Good Configuration to roll things back. Now I am back to huge letters and washed out graphics. I went to MSI's site and looked up my hardware, but there are so many choices for drivers that I am not sure what the right one is.
Any thoughts? I will also be approaching the shop who built this for me for their take on this in hopes they can point me to the right drivers.
I haven't tested my other components yet so I cannot tell you if anything else is hosed.
When it comes time to accept an answer, please tell me how I can spread points among you.
Thanks,
Elizabeth
My graphics card is an MSI NVidia GeForce4 Ti4800. The part number on the side of the box says -VT2D8X
try the windows update, it should have the correct driver for you
also see here
http://www.video-drivers.c
Lots of Nvidia drivers
From the description of your system, you have a fairly new computer. I would think, and hope, that whoever built it for you would provide warranty services. I know that when we build systems for clients, a 2 year in house warranty comes with it, regardless whether it is a server or workstation.
And since the fix should really not be a big deal for a good tech, they should be able to help you at no cost.
Just a thought.
FE
Well I have the EXACT same error, and exact same problems with random errors with random programs. Memeory checks out 100% (have two sticks so even tried one at a time. Hard drives check out 100%. Same XP version as elk060, ABIT IC7-G also 875P chipset and Intel on chip raid (ICH4R or something).
NOTHING you do stops the randome blue screen. Even re-installing XP from scratch. Extremely annoying.
I think it might be something to do with XP updates within last few weeks but I can't pinpoint it. I even tried having my RAID not as C: but as a boot drive (i.e. with System files on) and another drive as the system drive (i.e with boot files on - nice one Microsoft for naming those types of disks the wrong way round nice and confusing!). This worked for a while, then after final install of drivers for sound card then error occured. I don't think it's the sound card though as without it plugged in the same happens (even a fresh install without the sound card). So I am stumped too. I wouldn't care if I could narrow it down but I can't. I sympathise with elk060.
For anyone else that reads this post in the future:
Any error that sometimes occurs and sometimes doesn't and is a different error every time and there are loads of random problems then there is usually a hardware problem. (which seems to be the problem which is all of the above)
After each step test the system and see if it's OK.
Step 1. Test the RAM
Step 2. Disable all the 'FANCY' options in BIOS (use FAILSAFE configuration)
Step 3. Check all the system temperatures (can be seen in BIOS)
Step 4. Try removing all addons to the computer that you don't need (eg modem, sound card...)
Step 5. Try to format and reinstall the Hard disk if possible. If more errors occur after a reinstall then you can be nearly certain of a hardware problem.
Step 6. Try to change the Graphics card
step 7. Try to change the CPU
step 8 Try to change the Motherboard.
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by: stevenlewisPosted on 2003-12-14 at 09:30:24ID: 9937772
You need to go into the bios, and choose cd as the first boot device, and then have the xp cd in the drive and reboot
then
http://support.microsoft.c
install and use
http://support.microsoft.c