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Tomster2

72 Posts

223001

April 9th, 2007 20:00

XP reinstall gives "File \i386\ntkrnlmp.exe The error code is 7.

Working with a Dimension 8400 with XP Home.  BIOS A03
 
We encountered a blue screen condition in which we could not boot in normal, mode or safe mode.  Each produced the blue screen.
 
We tried a Repair install of XP, and that failed with the message:
 
"File \i386\ntkrnlmp.exe could not be loaded.  The error code is 7."
 
We then replaced the RAM with new RAM sticks and the reinstall produced the same message.
 
We then replaced the hard drive... and with a blank hard drive... AND... new ram we are still getting the same message when we try to reinstall.
 
Any ideas on where to go from here would be greatly appreciated.
 
PS, I considered the CD drive, but before we started replacing ram and the HD we use a utility on a Symantec Ghost CD to browse the drive and copy all files and folders off the old hard drive.  This all ran fine... so the CD appears to be in good order.
 
 

shesagordie

10 Elder

 • 

46K Posts

April 9th, 2007 21:00

Tomster2

See if Method #1 in this article can help.

Bev.






===================================================
Please don't send me questions about your system by DCF Messenger.
Post the issue in the appropriate Board, where they will be answered.

Tomster2

72 Posts

April 10th, 2007 15:00

Tried both...
 
I reset the bios to default.  No difference. 
 
I replaced the ram... no difference
Tried reversing the ram chips (put a in b and b in a) no difference.
Tried Ram in black slots instead of white (this machine has two slots with white tabs and two slots with black tabs)... no difference.
 
I even went and got a new SATA drive... hooked it up, it shows correctly in the BIOS... but when I boot with the windows XP setup disk, it loads files, then gets to the Setup, Repair, exit screen.... I select setup, and instead of getting the option to format the drive, I get an error message saying "Setup did not find any hard disks installed on your system"... and my only option is to exit. 
 
Tried a different XP setup disk from another machine just to see if it would load differently... same result. 
 
Tried a different SATA cable, same result.
 
If I let the everything run for a while, the drive gets warm... so it is getting power.
 
The Bios is recognizing, and remembering,  the addition of new components... so I assume this means the CMOS is OK.  
 
Since the the Ghost Rescue environment loads OK and allows the drive to be accessed via its utility for browse and copy to an external USB drive, I am beginning to think the motherboard has "issues".
 
Any other ideas are welcome.

dageezerus

1 Rookie

 • 

3.9K Posts

April 10th, 2007 21:00

With the new hard drive installed, boot to the bios, SATA operation, set it to RAID Auto/ATA, exit & boot to XP DVD & the hard drive should be recognized by XP setup.

Tomster2

72 Posts

April 11th, 2007 12:00

Thanks for the idea.   I tried booting twice without the setup disk in the drive.  I received an error message: Drive 0 not found Serial ATA, SATA 0.
 
With the windows CD in the drive, I get the ntkrnlmp.exe message again.
 
I tried the Windows Setup disk and the new drive in another machine.  The machine launched the setup process and took me to the option for formatting the drive... so just the way it is supposed to work.   I believe this rules out drive or CD problems.
 
Any other suggestions welcome.

dageezerus

1 Rookie

 • 

3.9K Posts

April 11th, 2007 15:00

In the 8400 BIOS,  Sata Operation Section
 
Is the option   RAID Auto/ATA Selected??
 
If not, you'll have to load the RAID/ACHI driver off a floppy when booting to the XP CD

Tomster2

72 Posts

April 11th, 2007 16:00

The exact selection I made was: "Raid Autoselect /ATA" 
 
The other options were Raid Autoselect /AHIC - which is the factory default, Raid On, and Combination.
 
 

Tomster2

72 Posts

April 11th, 2007 16:00

The option for Sata Operations is there, and I did select and save the Auto/ATA option you mentioned.
 
How would I load the ACHI driver from a floppy when booting from the CD?
 
 

dageezerus

1 Rookie

 • 

3.9K Posts

April 11th, 2007 17:00

With that selected in BIOS, the RAID driver isn't required & the XP installation sould proceed.
 
If you continue having XP installation issues, I would try using individual RAM modules to see if one of them is effecting the install process (Windows XP install is the best RAM test I've ever found)

Tomster2

72 Posts

April 11th, 2007 22:00

I checked the downloads for this service tag and found R82876 for SATA drivers.  I downloaded, created a floppy and put that into a floppy that I added to the system (of course the system did not have a floppy drive).
 
I set the bios back to the original drive setting, rebooted and hit f6 when the message showed. It found the floppy, and the driver.  I selected the AHIC driver and the setup continued for a little while,
 
 
Immediately after it checked the floppy, it advised that the driver appeared to be newer than the native windows driver... I told it to use the newer driver.
 
it continued a little further, then blue screened... 0X00000007B.   Telling me I need to check for virus (this is a new out of the box drive), the drive configuration and termination.
 
I then tried again, selecting the native windows drivers and it actually got me to the screen where I can decide to do a fresh install or repair install.   I select fresh install... and it advised me there was no hard drive on the system.
 
Will try once more with different ram and report back... if any of this rings a bell let me know.  Appreciate your sticking with this.
 

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