STOP: c0000221 Unknown Hard Error

Try the following microsoft Link

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q101/0/96.asp&NoWebContent=1

Unfortunately, this site too suggests what i wanted to: reinstall the OS

All the best

Thanks for the reply,

The thing is, is that answer makes no sense, since it happens WHEN I am trying to reinstall the OS.  And by me installing the evaluation copy of XP fine, and that not working before Or after the install, no matter if the disk is clean (formated and fdisked with everything being raw data) or if there is already a NTFS partition on it.

Me thinks there is something wrong with the disk that Dell gave me, and I have a 3 year warranty on my PC, so I would hope that someone from Dell will be able to help me out here.

Thanks,

Mat

John,

That is exactly what I did, still get that error with the Dell disk.  Just to try something, I tried to install Redhat Linux, and it came up with some sort of error, not letting me install linux either, (with a clean drive of course), so I am starting to think there is an error on the hard disk.  Maybe it needs a low level format?  And who should I go to for this, Dells telephone service is useless, and it looks like noone from Dell ever checks this forum, so what do I do?

Matt,

I'm experiencing exactly the same problem you described, on my DELL Dimension 4550 with XP Home pre-installed on it. Hardware is fine; I checked it several times, including the hard drive using special software from Western Digital.

For some reason the mbr-record is destroyed, so I want to use the (OEM) DELL WinXP CD to re-install XP, or try a repair install first. The system boots, starts loading drivers, and then stops with the c0000221 error message.

I used another (Microsoft) XP Pro CD, and it seems that installation gets beyond the point where installation using the DELL CD stops. So I suspect the DELL CD. But when I use this DELL CD on another computer (an older Dimension XPS T450), it also goes further then on the 4550   So it seems that only the combination DELL WinXP CD and the DELL Dimension 4550 will not work.

Now DELL says that it is a software problem, and that I will only get software support during 30 days after purchasing the system. This s*cks !! You never expect to do a re-install of a new system within 30 days. In my opinion it must always be possible to re-install the software you payed for.

I hope some DELL Tech reads this too, or other people who had this problem. I want to know how they solved it.

Regards, Ger

forgot to paste the site -> http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmd_stp_tgen.asp

Mat,

Wish you luck - since 3 days I havew stuck into the same problem,

and reached this site today - yet to try...

Windows troubles some times, XP Pro troubles more, and some times the Dell helpline too.

Hi,

I called dell tech to help me with reformatting my hard drive ( make sure I do it right)  He had me put in xp that came with my 8300.  It would start to load to load some files then a blue screen came up &  got same error   stop:c0000221 unknown hard error\systemroot\system32\htdll.dll 

Dell tech had me jumping through hoops. Open computer , take out 1 stick of memory & modem. Move memory to another slot, hook back up, try to refomat with xp disk again, same error,  open computer move memory  to another slot, etc.  Then try other stick of memory, etc.  approx 2 1/2 hours!  Don't understand. But he said I need to take computer somewhere & have mobo checked. He said it sounds like the memory slots on the motherboard could be bad. What?  The more I thought about it, what does my memory have to do with reformatting? He did diagnostics on memory & hard drive & passed sll tests. Most post on internet had either a corrupt xp disk. Some had cd rom problems. No one had motherboard problems.  So confused.  Back to Google.

FYI--- I to had the HARD ERROR during an OS attempted reload. The CD would load the needed files, SET UP STARTING WINDOWS then the ERROR mess on a BLU screen. It turned out that the DVD ROM drive I was using was bad. Even though it had worked in the past. Apparently the hdd was NOT bad as I had suspected. No one had suggested this simple check in any forum.