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wee4sfolkFlag for United States of America

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BSOD - C000021a Fatal System Error 0xc0000135 Logon Process

I am unable to start Windows on my laptop, I am unsure what caused the problem, but Windows is in a 'loop', if I disable Automatic System restart I can see the error on the blue screen.  The error includes the error codes in the title above C000021a and 0xc0000135

I can use/edit and back up the hard drive contents if I remove the hard drive and use it as a slave, but I've gotten nowhere using the Microsoft support articles published all over the internet.  I would really like to be able to fix my windows installation- I don't want to have to reinstall all my programs.  I appreciate any help.  Thank you
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Owen Rubin
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Have a look at this Microsoft document as a place to start:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/156669
You can boot to your XP Install CD-Rom and let it find the existing XP installation, it will then ask if you want to repair it.  Say yes and it will install only the OS files, leaving your documents and installed programs alone.

I'd definitely make a document backup anyways if you do this.

Also this usually messes up Internet Explorer (in my experience) if you have anything above IE6.  You have to go in and run the spuinst.exe for IE7and/orIE8 to fully uninstall IE7/8 and then reinstall them.
Will it start in safe mode? If you can, check the system logs for errors at the time of the last BSOD.
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ASKER

Thanks for your comments,

to orrubin - Dr. Watson creates no log or dmp files.  I guess that makes sense, I really haven't made it to the user-mode, Windows just won't start.
My registry does not have a value for the Gina DLL value - so I guess that's okay.
Last known configuration is not an option, since Windows won't load  - F8 does not work and I can't get to the point where I can make that selection.
I have reinstalled XP - multiple times, this  just creates a new OS instance, it doesn't correct the problem instance - see below regarding repair.

to sharkbot:  I can boot to my XP Install CD-Rom, but I do not get a repair option.  I'm using an HP laptop they have a built in Recovery Console - maybe that's why?
Do you have a trick to get the repair option?

Thanks for your quick responses, let's keep trying please :-\





to edbedb - nope, can't get to safe mode. -flashes blue screen with errors in the question title and loops.
If it doesn't make it to the point where you can access the boot menu, I would say that you have a hardware problem.

I would check the motherboard for bulging/leaking capacitors.
Check you RAM.
Check the hard drive for errors.
The HP Recovery console would probably have a similar function, at least ones that I have worked have had both a destructive and non-destructive recovery option.  Destructive is usually restoring to original factory state, and repair would be the option you're looking for.  If the CD you have is OEM from HP it could be modified, but typically with the XP disk you must choose the option to install a fresh copy of Windows, then let it search for existing Windows partitions/installations, it should detect your existing install, then it will give you the option to select that installation and repair it.  But first you must go through the motions of installing a fresh install -kinda scary I know.  Also this has been true for me for XP Pro disks, I'm not well versed in the XP Home or Media Center, so this process could be different for those versions.
On second thought, the HP Recovery may only save your documents to a folder in the C: root, and then perform the recovery for the 'non-destructive repair/recovery' - so this MAY wipe out your programs, but not data/documents.  It's been a while since I used it, sorry for the foggy info.
edbedb - I did have some bad sectors - (4), but I've used Acronis to backup and restore partition by partition (supposedly this will skip the sectors labeled as bad)  I've tried this with the hard drive original to the laptop and  with another Hard Drive of the same size.  I've spent an embarassing amount of time on this.

Let's say that the HDD is the issue, what would you suggest?  I have other HDDs, can I back-up and restore or clone without passing on the bad sector information? - And retain my O/S and installed apps?
Thank you
If the hard drive is failing, I would clone it to another drive then run chkdsk on it. Otherwise just check it with chkdsk /r
edbedb - As I consider this, one more thing, with the additional installation of XP Pro (same hard drive)- with the 2 versions - one now named Windows.0, I can get into the normal F8 menu with the newly installed instance of XP - including safe mode.  Does that still point to hardware?
Here is the full error just in case it helps:
STOP:c000021a {Fatal System Error} The Windows Logon Process terminated unexpectly with a status of 0xc0000135 (0x00000000  0x00000000).  The system has been shut down.

Thanks again for your help, hopefully we can get this working.  :-)
Unfortunately all that means is that it's probably not motherboard or the memory.

It could be (and it's my guess) the hard drive. Could also be a corrupt driver or system hive in the original installation.
I've cloned and run chkdsk, this is an option Acronis recommends as well as the partition by partition restore.  I'm re-running chkdsk now, i'll let you know.
I have seen technical support docs referring to this error and corrupt drivers or dlls.  Is there a fix for corrupt drivers or the system hive?
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edbedb
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awesome, I'll give it a shot. Thank you