Dell Dimension 5100 desktop running XP Home SP3 - bought a new monitor and a week later BSOD.
I can't see how there's any relation between the 2 things, but all of a sudden I'm getting a 0X7B on boot. Investigation seems to point in multiple directions - corrupt HDD, bad driver of some sort, etc.
I booted with a Dell XP Home CD, figuring I'd run Fixboot and Fixmbr from the repair console. Wrong! I type in the R, type 1 for the C:/Windows installation, hit [Enter] for the Administartor's password,.... and get no further. In all the years I've had this tower there has never been any sort of password protection until Windows starts - then we've got email passwords, forum passwords, etc. But here I am getting invalid password returns from the repair console. I've gone into the setup screen and under Security 2 types of passwords are listed - I think one's a BIOS password and the other's an Administrator pswd. Both say Not Setup.
So I use an old Winternals CD and go to a command prompt. Fixboot and Fixmbr are not valid commands. So with the same disk I access System Restore, wanting to go back a day or so. Wrong again - no restore points exist.
Then I try a Spotmau utility CD - no Fixboot or Fixmbr there either - also no restore points.
Then I go back to the Dell Home CD, hit enter to install the OS, click on Windows Home and type R. It copies a mess of stuff, and when it gets to 100% it reboots. I do not press any key, but when it finally displays something, it's a light blue Windows setup screen with white writing saying Setup is being restarted..., which is only there for a few seconds before the screen goes dark, I get the cursor arrow, and a box pops up that says When trying to update a password, this return status indicates that the value provided by the current password is not correct (it only displays for about a half second), and it reboots, going into the same setup will continue, invalid password loop. This happens in safe mode, SM with networking, SM with command prompt, last good configuration, etc
I am befuddled. I haven't played with a UBCD or Hiren's disk, but I have no reason to think I'll get different rssults.
Is a total reinstall my only option?
I can't see how there's any relation between the 2 things, but all of a sudden I'm getting a 0X7B on boot. Investigation seems to point in multiple directions - corrupt HDD, bad driver of some sort, etc.
I booted with a Dell XP Home CD, figuring I'd run Fixboot and Fixmbr from the repair console. Wrong! I type in the R, type 1 for the C:/Windows installation, hit [Enter] for the Administartor's password,.... and get no further. In all the years I've had this tower there has never been any sort of password protection until Windows starts - then we've got email passwords, forum passwords, etc. But here I am getting invalid password returns from the repair console. I've gone into the setup screen and under Security 2 types of passwords are listed - I think one's a BIOS password and the other's an Administrator pswd. Both say Not Setup.
So I use an old Winternals CD and go to a command prompt. Fixboot and Fixmbr are not valid commands. So with the same disk I access System Restore, wanting to go back a day or so. Wrong again - no restore points exist.
Then I try a Spotmau utility CD - no Fixboot or Fixmbr there either - also no restore points.
Then I go back to the Dell Home CD, hit enter to install the OS, click on Windows Home and type R. It copies a mess of stuff, and when it gets to 100% it reboots. I do not press any key, but when it finally displays something, it's a light blue Windows setup screen with white writing saying Setup is being restarted..., which is only there for a few seconds before the screen goes dark, I get the cursor arrow, and a box pops up that says When trying to update a password, this return status indicates that the value provided by the current password is not correct (it only displays for about a half second), and it reboots, going into the same setup will continue, invalid password loop. This happens in safe mode, SM with networking, SM with command prompt, last good configuration, etc
I am befuddled. I haven't played with a UBCD or Hiren's disk, but I have no reason to think I'll get different rssults.
Is a total reinstall my only option?
