Blue screen! INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. STOP: 0x0000007B

[rasu]

I am running Windows 2000 Professional on an HP Omniboox XE3 GC (P3, 850 MHz, 512 MB RAM). I was having problems with the Roxio Easy-CD Creator software (for my external CD burner), and I uninstalled it, with the intention of reinstalling it. When I rebooted my laptop, it seemed to start properly upto the midway stage of the Windows 2000 splash screen - and then a BLUE SCREEN appears with the
following message:

STOP: 0x0000007B (0xEB82784C, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000) INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE.

I tried pressing F8 during the startup and then going to 'Safe Mode' etc but none of the options worked, including starting with 'Last Known Good Configuration'.

I then created 4 Windows 2000 Professional Setup disks, pressed 'Esc' during startup, and booted from these disks. I then clicked on 'R' to repair the Windows 2000 installation. There were 2 options provided after this: (1) To repair Windows 2000 using the recovery console by pressing 'C', and (2) To repair Windows 2000 by using the emergency repair process by pressing 'R'.

I first tried the second option (2). There were two options after this, one for a Manual Repair (press M), and the other for a Fast Repair (press F). I pressed
'M', selected all the 3 repair options available (Inspect startup environment,
Verify Windows 2000 System files, Inspect boot sector), and pressed Enter. It then asked me to press Enter again if I had the 'Emergency Repair Disk' (which I don't), or to press L to let Setup try to locate Windows 2000 for me. I pressed L. It found Windows 2000 in C:WINNT, and prompted me to press Enter to repair the Windows 2000 installation, which I did. (I put my Windows 2000 CD in the CDROM drive first). It examined the disks, and I chose to repair whatever it found. When I restarted the laptop after that, I still got the BLUE SCREEN.

The same thing happened when I chose the Fast Repair (F) option again later.

I then opted to use the Recovery Console. It asked for the administrator password, which I finally remembered (!), and I then ran chkdsk (chkdsk C: /r) and fixboot (fixboot C. Chkdsk found at least one error and repaired it, and
the fixboot seemed to have done something too. Happily, I then typed 'exit' and restarted the laptop. But the BLUE SCREEN was there again, with the same messages.

I am now kind of lost as to what I should do next. I have been looking at many forums etc, desperately trying to find a solution. Most folks that have had this error message seem to have fixed the problem by doing the chkdsk and fixboot above.


Other options:

Other options I have read about but have no idea if they make sense or how to do anything about are: (1) edit the boot.ini file or (2) repair the MBR. There is an option within recovery console (I looked at the list of recovery console commands) to 'fixmbr', but I am not sure if I should do this.

I will also now try to find the "Emergency Repair Disk" on the Internet, and see I can do anything with that. Other that this, I am totally lost!



PLEASE help me with your suggestions. Thank you very much!! Hope to hear from you soon.

 

[MontrealSoft]

No problem to do a fixmbr. It may be the solution.

Normally, this error appends when you change your mainboard with a different chipset. The drivers for the new chipset are not reconized by 2000 and it freeze with this error.

Martin

 

[Jasen]

It could be corrupted data on the boot sector.
More often, it is a problem with drivers. If you did not change hardware, then you have faulty or corrupt drivers, or the drivers corrupted your registry (most likely). As the "repair" features in Win2k do anything but actually repair your system, you're going to have to reinstall. These are going to be disk controller chipset drivers causing the problem.
Or, check your BIOS, and make sure that UDMA is disabled there, that also causes this error. Sometimes on systems that have been running fine for months.

There's surely several other causes as well, but those 3 are the most common I've seen. ________
Remember, you're unique... just like everyone else.

 

[gfincati]

Fix the mbr, then I'm afraid you will have to bite the bullet and re-install Windows 2000. Most attempts to repair Windows 2000 will fail and if you actually do succeed, many programs will have to be re-installed anyway, so might just as well start over. Hopefully, to save your data, you have your hard disk partitioned with the os separate from the data. If not, I would suggest this is what you do. GF

 

[x2]

you have to use the recovery console. to replace the system.ini file with the backup copy. this will fix the 0x7b error made by the easy cd creator uninstall. ps if you install some other program for making cd's you will have to manualy edit the reg to remove cd creator before they will work.

 

[rasu]

Good news guys... I have finally managed to fix the problem, without having to reinstall Windows 2000!!! After almost 3 days of agony, this is such a relief.

The fix is described here:

http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBM/tip6100/rh6179.htm

The problem was caused by the uninstall program of Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum, which messed up many a systems files and registry entries!

Thank you for all your help.

This forum also helped:

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?spid=616&newpid=616&sqid=68263&tmac=logc

Yippieeeee!!!