STOP:c000021a {Fatal System Error}

[Ratface]

Hi Guys, hope ya can help!

I'm getting c000021a fatal system error on a pc i'm workin on.

Now Microsoft reckon its:- "A buffer-overrun condition in the Internet Explorer Policy module may corrupt the process heap. This causes an access violation in Winlogon.exe. This problem occurs only if group policies are defined for Internet Explorer maintenance settings." &

"To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Internet Explorer 6."

Seems fair enough, but my question is, how do i download and install the latest service pack if my pc keeps giving me the 'blue screen of death' with this error message, while trying to load windows xp (pro)????

As allways, any advice greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Ratface

[Gizmo]

Do you have internet access on another computer that has no issues? If so, get onto it and have a floppy disk handy, download the latest service pack that will be the solution to your problem, zip it and then save it to the floppy. Go back to the computer that's having the problems and upload that service pack or whatever onto the computer.

[Ratface]

I do have access to another pc but how do i upload a zip file when i can't boot up windows??

[Panama Red]

What are your system specs? Is it a prebuilt or you-built system? Do you have your own XP disk so you can do a repair or if a prebuild, do you only have restore disks?

[Ratface]

Motherboard - ASUS A7V600
Processor - Athlon 2600 XP
Ram - 512 DDR
It's a pc I built for my uncle, everything was fine with WIN XP but then he decided to upgrade to XP PRO & after a couple of weeks this fatal error appeared.
My first choice was to boot with his XP PRO disc but even though the bios boot settings are set right, it skips the cd & dvd drives, boots from the c: and crashes.
The other option I can see is to wipe the hard drive but I'm loathed to do that, theres got to be some way of fixing it.

[Panama Red]

Not seeing the cd and dvd drives is a problem if you want to do a repair (obviously). Are they being recognized in the bios? Maybe a different ide cable on them? And make sure the disk surface of the XP disk is clean. Ideally, you'll want to boot to the XP disk, select new installation (not repair console) and when it detects an os already installed, do the repair from there.

[Ratface]

They were being seen fine in the bios but i replaced them with some new rounded ide cables anyway & still the same problems. The disk is clean & boot settings are correct in the bios.

I have disabled the floppy drive and the hard drive in the boot sequence & told the pc to boot from the dvd burner. Power up, cd spins and whirs then i get 'DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER'
This also happens when I boot from the cd drive.

Does 'SYSTEM DISK' refer to a floppy disk or do I have a problem with the cd aswell?

[Gizmo]

You're putting the system disk into the DVD burner? Aren't you supposed to insert it into the CD-ROM? The system disk refers to the disk which holds the OS that you will be loading up onto the system.

[Ratface]

The dvd burner is a dvd-rom
Tried the cd-rom too.
Was wondering if it was specifically asking for a floppy disk cuz I thought the cd was a system disk and it isn't working.

[bdasselin]

I am trying to fix a neighbor's computer and I see the same thing. None of the safe mode/F8 options work. I get a Stop C000021a error saying that the windows logon process was unexpectedly terminated.
The computer is now unable to boot ANY bootable CDs which includes the Windows XP cd with recovery console, etc.
If it weren't for the CD thing, I would say it was corrupted files or improper dependencies like MS says but this seems like something more devious.
Aren't there any MS-MVPs out there with something to say? I have found numerous threads on different discussions for errors like this without one good solution.

[glc]

Will it get into safe mode?

[bdasselin]

No. While you were writing your reply, I was editing my post to add that no F8/Safe Mode options work.

Ratface, just curious, do you see the exact same error code as I do before the parenthesis? The exact message that I see is:

STOP C000021a {FATAL SYSTEM ERROR}
The Windows Logon Process system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0x80000004 (0x00000000 0x00000000)
The system has been shut down

[macko72]

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d...d_stp_mtgk.asp

[bdasselin]

I already read this article and a number of other articles about stop 21a from MS. I know you are trying to help, macko72, but did you read the thread here? Please tell me how this relates to the two systems here that cannot use Safe Mode or even boot from a CD?

[macko72]

Originally Posted by bdasselin I already read this article and a number of other articles about stop 21a from MS. I know you are trying to help, macko72, but did you read the thread here? Please tell me how this relates to the two systems here that cannot use Safe Mode or even boot from a CD?

Yes I was refering to a thread not to yours response to a thread, I will check what can be done !!!

If is not possible for you to boot from CD did you tried to boot from Floppy.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

[bdasselin]

Well, turns out my cd problem was a freak timing coincidence. The cd drive seems to work fine except as a boot device. A new cd drive did the trick. Now if my neighbor can only remember his XP admin password so I can attempt to recover the system