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Blue screen at startup; every solution I've found does not work.

Anonymous
2011-01-04T17:23:20+00:00

About a week ago, my mother's computer completely died on her, giving her a blue screen every time she started her computer. She came to me for help, and so I asked my mom what she was doing when this happened. She told me that she had been installing updates. When the updates were finished, the computer restarted but froze at the login screen. She then puled the plug on the computer, which was probably a stupid decision, and when she restarted there was the blue screen. My first reaction was to start the thing in safe mode. Unfortunately, this led to the blue screen as well.

I started doing some research on the internet and came to the conclusion that she needed the original Windows XP recovery disc that came with her computer. Apparently she had lost hers, so I contacted Dell and got a new one. Booting the computer from the recovery disc gave me a few options. At first, I pressed enter, instead of pressing "r" to enter the recovery console. I'd heard there was a repair option when reinstalling windows xp. This led me to a screen that asked me to agree to some terms by pressing F8. I pressed F8, and sure enough, a blue screen.

I restarted and this time pressed "r" to enter the recovery console. I had read on this very forum some instructions to possibly solve my problem using the recovery console. At first, everything seemed to be going fine. The recovery console started, and displayed "1 C:\Windows " which I'm assuming meant I needed to press the 1 key. But nothing worked. No matter what I typed, the screen wouldn't display the text. It was as if the recovery console was frozen, or disconnected from my keyboard. Finally, I just pressed "enter", and what do you know, I get the blue screen.

To be more specific, the error says something like: "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. BAD_POOL_CALLER." It also says at the bottom, "STOP: 0x000000C2 (0x00000043, 0xD6201000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)"

I feel really bad about telling my mom there's nothing I can do for her, but I just don't know how to solve this problem. Any help would be appreciated.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-01-06T22:45:01+00:00

    If you read my first post, you will see that I've already tried safe mode and OSRI, and both led me to a blue screen. I don't really feel comfortable opening up the computer. I was hoping there would be another way to fix it. If I can't figure out how to fix the computer, at the very least I'd like to be able to save my mother's files on her hard drive. That's what she's most afraid of, losing the pictures and documents she has saved to her computer. Does anyone know how I could go about saving the info on the hard drive? Would I have to physically remove it from the tower?

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-01-05T18:40:02+00:00

    The disc I was sent from dell says, "Replacement recovery media for support purposes only. Not for redistribution or use with a new computer." Does that mean it is not a genuine bootable XP installation CD and won't work? Also, I tried running the computer under Last Known Good Configuration, and I still run into the same blue screen.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-01-05T18:07:33+00:00

    It seems that I boot into the Recovery Console several times a day for one reason or another.

    When the Recovery Console prompt says C:\WINDOWS, underneath that is a message that says:

    (To cancel, press ENTER)?

    If you do press ENTER, the system restarts as it is supposed to do (try it).

    Even if there is just one choice offered, you still must make a choice.

    If the CD came from Dell, it could just be one of their recovery CDs and not a genuine bootable XP installation CD.

    If you do not have a genuine bootable XP installation CD or are not sure what you have, you can create a bootable XP Recovery Console CD (no XP media required).

    KB307545 is the method to recover from a corrupted registry.  Why do you think the registry is corrupted?

    I would certainly not start with KB307545 for a STOP 0x000000C2 error (as a matter of fact, I have never used KB307545 in my life to fix anything), but I am not a Microsoft Support Moderator either.

    If I saw a STOP 0x000000C2 error, I would start with the F8 Advanced Boot Options menu and choose Last Known Good Configuration (that is the configuration XP saved the last time it booted successfully).

    If the system boots with Last Known Good Configuration, uninstall (roll back) the afflicted software or driver update using Add/Remove Programs or Device Manager and get the correct software/drivers for your system.

    Do, or do not. There is no try.

    I decided to save up points for a new puppy instead of a pony!

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-01-05T17:26:27+00:00

    Thanks for the help. Unfortunately, I still cannot access the recovery console. I disconnected everything from the computer except the power cable, the cable connected to the monitor, and the usb cable for the wireless mouse and keyboard. However, when I reach "C:\Windows" on the recovery console, and press enter, all it does is restart my computer. If I press any other key, and then press enter, I get the blue screen. This is frustrating, because I can't get to the next step of fixing the computer if I can't even get the simple task of accessing the recovery console to work. Do you know of any other way to get it to work?

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  5. Anonymous
    2011-01-05T05:34:17+00:00

    Hi,

    This can be caused due to hardware conflicts. I would suggest you to disconnect the external devices such as printers, scanners, etc from the system and check whether the issue persists.

    When Recovery console stars and displays ‘1 C:\Windows’ , you should press enter on the keyboard and not ‘1’. The number next to C:\ is the serial number, for example, if you have more than one operating system installed on the system (multiboot) then it will be given as a sequence like (1 C:, 2 D:) you can use the arrow keys that are present on the keyboard to select the operating system you want to recover and then you have to press Enter on the keyboard. Refer the article mentioned below.

    Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console for advanced users

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

    Once you boot into recovery console then, I would suggest you to do a system restore from the recovery console and check whether the issue is resolved.

    Follow the steps mentioned in the article given below.

    How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

    Thank you and Regards.           

    Thahaseena M

    Microsoft Answers Support Engineer.

    Visit ourMicrosoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

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