Try tapping F8 key when restarting XP and try booting into Safe mode.  Then if that works, uninstall the previous software. Try rebooting. If still unable to reboot, again F8 and boot into Safe mode. under programs\accessories\system tools\system restore, try restore to a previous date that you know had not problems.  Try reboot to see if it boots normally.

Message Edited by fudgieguys on 06-22-200602:49 PM

Garyvol,

If all that fails, do not be discouraged.  See this link on how to repair a corrupted registry that makes windows unbootable:  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545#top.  Print the instructions before you start.

Complete reinstall of XP is usually required only in the event of hard disk failure.  If you have files, images, documents and data that you wish to recover before a complete install, there are methods to achieve that also.  I just did a complete recovery of all documents, spreadsheets and images of an XP system that had been fdisked and formatted using Windows 98 SE.

See this link for a description of what causes Stop 0x0000021A errors : http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm  Also note link to Microsoft if you have GoBack installed.

Tony

Message Edited by tgsmith on 06-22-200607:25 PM

Here is a link to another forum in here that i put a Hive recovery "how to". http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_winxp&message.id=193122

Follow this and you will be good as new.

---

Follow this and you will be good as new.

---

Must be nice to always so sure of oneself, A God amoung men I guess :smileywink:

Jen..... err I mean Penny,  ;)

Perhaps,  just a magician?

or a Trusted Agent  and "Member of the Order of the Phoenix."

 

 

Message Edited by obey_gravity on 06-24-200605:29 AM

Hi Fudgieguys

I tried what you suggest .  The system always goes into a reseting installation mode, will do some stuff, then turn the screen blue and then the fatal message comes up and the system goes into a shutdown mode everytime.

I've also looked over what the others are pointing me too.  Man does it look busy to do.  must be an easier way.

I've looked into to the retore mode from my windows xp from the cd.  I haven't activated this setup yet as it seems to be the last resource to do and I would lose my office word, and excel programs (can't find them for reloading).  When I invoke the restore mode,  my system is then asked which partition would you like to use as it displays a C  and  D configuration in my drive as they are of equal size around 32GB.  I wonder which I partition I would highlight for the windows XP to begin the restore to.

any thoughts

thx

-gary

 

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&dn=1090151

Sounds like it may be time  :smileysad:

Message Edited by obey_gravity on 06-23-200607:46 AM

Garyvol,

Nope.  No easier way.  Easier way (Repair/reinstall Windows) can cause data loss and is actually more tedious and time consuming.  The way I recommended will allow you to put your system back without having to reinstall everything.

Tony

thx Tony

I've copied the instructions, but not sure how/if I can get the system in the command mode.

The program never goes into the Welcome to setup screen.  it begins to into settings quickly and then takes over.   I'll keep trying.

 

 

Find a way to save/recover your data to external media and then consider using Ctrl/F11 if your computer has the DSR feature.

Garyvol,

You said you can't get to Recovery Console.   Insert Windows XP CD.  Shutdown (turn off) computer.  Unplug power cord.  Press power button.  Light should flash momentarily as residual and/or static charges are cleared.  Plug in power cord.  Turn on computer.  While Dell logo is on screen, press F12.   Use arrow keys to highlight CD/DVD drive as boot device.  Press Enter.  I've seen a few systems that will still prompt you to "Press any key to boot from CD".  Do so if prompted.

When the Welcome to Windows setup appears, press R to enter Recovery Console.  Select Windows installation (usually the numeral 1).  Press Enter.  Press Enter when prompted for password because its usually blank.  Now follow the registry repair instructions you printed.  You will note that those instructions are essentially the same as the ones in PandyFackler's Hive repair post. 

Do not become discouraged.  DO NOT attempt a repair or re-install of Windows at the moment as they will destroy the system restore points which can be used in either of the Hive Repair routines.  Not clear on whether you've already attempted this or not.  Please advise.

Tony

Hi Tony,

Thanks for keeping me in mind amidst the heavy load of postings.  I’m new to Dell, and man, what is up with all the problems posted by others.  Scared to put anything else on the system now.  If I ever get it functional again.

Yeah, I am getting a little discouraged.  Feel so helpless since this whole thing started by trying to load up the stupid train simulator program. 

I do get the press any key when the XP cd is in the drive.  One thing I notice is that as the few seconds count down during this enter any key segment, the program can go into 2 types modes.  1 is it will check your config. Settings,  2 it allows you to load in a Profile 1 type program.  This all depends at what stage of countdown, looking at about 5 sequential periods marching across the message.  No matter which one I enter via the Space bar, it will end up with the blue screen then Fatal error shutdown message after all of the loading of different  DLL files from the R mode (I think means Repair mode not Recovery Console mode) and subsequent reboot from the hard drive.  Can’t get past the Fatal error shut down. 

I press the power button on this Dimension 8200 system to bring it back to life.  Seems to do the repower job okay to allow another reboot of the CD  XP program.

You are saying to remove the power from the system to bring the system up for booting up again.  I’ve done that in the past with the same results.  Now I use the computer’s power button.

I’ll stop here for any comments.

-gary

 

Gary,

Your are trying to boot with the Dell Reinstallation CD for Windows XP aren't you?  The prompts you describe look similar to the Dell Diagnostic CD prompts that occur after the  "Press any key to boot from CD" prompt. 

If you have some important data or document files, you can quickly copy those to another Windows XP system.  Shut down the other XP system.  Unplug the CD Rom data and power cables. Remove your hard drive that will not boot.  Connect it to the other XP system's CD ROM data and power cables.  Power up the system and copy your documents and data files to a folder on that system's hard drive (I've actually copied the entire contents of a troublesome hard drive to such a folder).  

Once you get your data copied to the other drive, put it back in your present system.  Get a genuine Windows XP CD (same release and version if possible, but not critical at this point).  Use that CD to get to the Recovery Console.  Surely someone has a Windows XP CD you can borrow.

Let us know when you're ready to proceed with getting your system back up.

Tony

Hi Tony

Reinstallation CD???  Uhm,  the CD I'm using is labled Windows XP.  I thought I'm using this Cd to try and do the repair.   I think during all my attempts at this I probably did a reinstall session where it deleted some files and then recopied them over again, although I had to skip 2 DLL files because it could not copy them for some reason.  

I"m curious now how many versions of XP  their are and how do we know what is the latest???? 

Here is a stupid question.  Would it be possible to go backwards to Windows 98 to see if a repair  can be accomplished unless that would really goof things up.??

I'll keep trying

-gary

Gary,

Okay.  You're using the Windows XP CD.  Fine.  If you've already attempted to repair or reinstall Windows XP, then my earlier instructions will probably be of little use.  Best bet now would be to get your data backed up.  You can use the method I described earlier (remove the 8200 hard drive and connect it to the CD-ROM cable in another computer running Windows XP or Windows 2000).  Once you get your data backed up, you can attempt another repair installation, do a parallel installation,  or do  a clean installation of Windows.  If your XP had updated from its original release, a repair installation will most likely fail unless you're using an XP CD that's the same version.  That's probably what caused your current problem. 

Windows XP has numerous versions.  The original releases of XP Home and Pro, plus SP1, SP1a, and SP2.  Add OEM versions of these and those for  the Media Center Edition(s) and the 64-bit releases, and it gets interesting.  The latest version upgrade (SP2) is available on the Microsoft.com web site.

Is it possible to go backwards to Windows 98?  No!  Windows 95 used a 16-bit FAT (File Allocation Table). Windows 98, 98SE and ME used 32-bit FATs.  Windows NT, 2000 and XP use the NTFS (NT File System) by default on clean installations.  Upgrade installations; i.e., 98 or ME to 2000 or XP, can use the existing 32-bit FAT with degraded performance or convert it to NTFS.

Get your data backed up using the method I described earlier.  Then we can attempt to repair your existing installation.

Tony