Dead Hard Drive?

[vanagon40]

I own a DELL desktop, about 3 years old, P4. Windows XP (Home).

When I attempt to boot up, I get the following error message:

STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
The windows Login Process system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc0000142 (0x00000000 0x00000000).
The system has shut down.

I get the same error message when attempting to boot in the SAFE mode.

I assume my hard drive is fried. Any suggestions?

I recall reading years ago that putting the computer (or hard drive) in a freezer will sometimes allow one additional reboot. Urban legend or is there some truth to this?

If my hard drive is fried, is there any chance I can send it somewhere to get data off the hard drive? Mostly there are some pictures I would like to retrieve.

[Leonardo]

Let's not even remove the hard drive yet. There are plenty more troubleshooting steps to take first.

It may not be a hardware problem, but a corrupted Windows installation. If that's the case, we might be able to get you running again without loss of any data. You may have to boot from a Windows CD.

Do you have a Windows CD, or at least an XP CD available to you?
Do you how to set the computer to boot from the CD drive?

[vanagon40]

Thanks for the response Leonardo.

I have the DELL XP (Home) CD that came with the computer.

Not exactly sure what I need to do other than put it in and restart?

[vanagon40]

I tried to restart with a Windows XP cd inserted and I still get the blue screen of death (and same error message as in the original post). There is some effort to read the cd in the drive.

Any other suggestions?

[Leonardo]

I think you are right, this does sound like a failed hard drive. It could also be bad memory or a motherboard as well, but the odds are it's the hard drive. Do you have spare that you could test in the computer? Do you have an enclosure that you could use to check the drive with a working computer?

[vanagon40]

Unfortunately, no and no.

[Leonardo]

Alright, we can try and rule out memory as a problem. I really don't think it's memory, but we can at least test for that. On your motherboard, are there one or two sticks of memory?

[vanagon40]

My friend, that is an excellent question; and one I would love to answer.

If I knew what it is, a motherboard, stick of memory, or even a hard drive I would provide the answer. Took me 10 minutes just to figure out how to remove the side panel.

Does this help? If you cannot tell by the photo, tell me where to look and I will either count or provide a better angle photo.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb215/vanagon40/Computer003.jpg

By the way, what is the preferred method of removing cobwebs?

[Leonardo]

whatever works

Get the spider webs out with a sitck or plastic fork. Then use compressed air, canned air, or a wet/dry vacuum on blower mode for the rest. If you use a shop vac, ensure that the canister and hose are clean before you start to blow. Ensure to clean out the power supply and all heatsinks. Remove the green cowling from the CPU heatsink and clean the fan and heatsink underneath well.

Clean that disaster outdoors and stand UPwind of it.

[vanagon40]

OK, but did the photo answer your questions regarding sticks of memory?

What next?

[Thrax]

One.

[Leonardo]

Thrax interpreted it for me, so yes, the photo did answer our question. Sorry, we can't test the memory because the motherboard has only one module. Without an external enclosure in which to examine/test the drive, I don't know where to proceed from here.

We can't try a Windows repair because you can't get that far with system's current condition.

We can't test the drive without another system to put it in or without an external enclosure.

Do you have any friends that have a spare hard drive that you could install in your system? Check out your local Craigslist. Maybe you could find an old drive that's very inexpensive. You'd need an "IDE" or "PATA" hard drive, which is the older format. (Newer drives are "SATA.") But then, if your system still won't work, you've spent money for nothing.

We could test the memory if you have a friend with a computer like yours, or at least a similar model of approximately the same age.

[QCH]

What exact model is the dell? We might be able to grab the official diagnostic CD for that model and that will test the Motherboard, memory, and hard drive using Dell's tools.