My computer wont boot!

[Chris Down]

My computer is giving me a STOP error code when I boot it up, just after Windows loads the bootscreen. It gives a phrasing which I've never seen before, it mentions corruption, which the usual STOP BSODs I get don't produce. It flashes up and off so quickly - even though I have it set not to - that I could only capture it with a camera on max burst. For all who can't quite read it, here's what it looks like to me:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Disable or uninstall any anti-virus, disk defragmentation or backup utilities. Check your hard-drive configuration, and check for any updated drivers. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard-drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x00000024 (0x00190203, 0x82EFA260, 0xC0000102, 0x00000

...and that's as much as it got.

AFAIK there was a little bit after, but my camera couldn't pick it up fast enough. Also, all those steps are fine and well, but because I can't boot I cannot proceed to do them.

Any ideas on what the issue is? I have exams coming up, and a lot of my data for the exams is on there, so I'd prefer not to have to format or DBAN, but if the worst comes to the worst, they are acceptable.

[ZenOswyn]

Have you tried booting into safe mode? You really should try that, and backup your stuff from there, and then go with MS's suggestion about running chkdsk.

If that fails (and you were able to backup your stuff from safe mode), you can just reformat and the error will go away. However, if you can't get into safe mode, you can take out the drive and throw it in another computer to retrieve your data.

[baronvongogo]

You could also try a windows repair too booting up from the windows xp cd.

[steak1986]

What happened before this error occurred, did u install some (if so then boot to last know config), have you downloaded anything and run it( then run repair in off the xp cd), or if it was truely random ( then it sound like ur HD crashed).

[Chris Down]

Managed to get this fixed. CHKDSK /r did the trick.

Thanks, guys.