C:000021 (Fatal system error) - blue screen of death

[gbl]

We encountered this message today on a Dell Inspiron D800 notebook with windows XP Pro SP1 or sp1a.

The full message is "C:000021a (Fatal system error)
The windows logon process system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xC00000005 (0x00000000,0x00000000). The system has been shut down."
I see it in relation to Windows 2000 problems particularly when Symantec PCanywhere 9.2 is installed without the 9.21 update, but nothing in relation to windows xp Pro. The user reports he has not installed or changed anything on this notebook, it is current in the antivirus protection and I have run our spyware software.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[bcastner]

It means the SAM is corrupted. The most common reason for this is a hard disk issue, or a warning of a hard disk problem.

Because a repair reinstallation does not replace the SAM, this is a non-starter.

My best advice would be to do a clean install. You want to thoroughly test the disk drive afterwards, or perhaps if you can find the drive manufacturer diagnostics for the hard drive on their web site, start their before bothering with a new install.

Some possible workarounds that I do not recommend:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316751

 

[gpalmer711]

Also take a look at

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=318666

I had this problem reciently on a new PC without updates.

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk