Windows XP machine failing to start-up from HDD and CD-ROM

[Stilicho]

Hi all

I started working with computers in 1980, and never stopped ever since. I am a very careful person that uses the laptop for working purposes only and once the software I need is installed, and going on for years without any problems. I never had a virus able to pass through my defences had no malfunctions of any kind in any of my machines since that date!

However I do have huge security related problems that intentionally caused in the past very unusual and hard to detect problems, but back then I had the financial resources to just change laptops to the last model and sell the "old" one, something that is impossible today. At a time, I was forced to purchase three new laptops in six months.…

Since then and as a result of those problems, the situation has changed dramatically and I no longer can even afford decent computers and give myself the easy way out of these situations. Now I need to find solutions.

I have an old laptop that needs to keep working for the time being. This laptop is a tired small machine almost exclusively used for word processing, it is not connected to the Internet (does not even have any communication device) but all installed software has its legitimate original disks. I do not have any games, do not have any music player, and I do not see video on it.

After almost 30 years without a single non-intentionally provoked event, recently I got for the very first time, one virus and several adware craps, which I believed they could have been planted in my USB flash drive in a network where I downloaded some research.

This time without resources, it took months to get around the problem. I purchased a new Windows XP SP2 and all software was re-installed on a machine that initially came with Windows 98.

My free version of an up-to-date anti-virus gave a clean certificate report.

1 – After this I recently got my first snag and the laptop would not start from the HDD and is displaying the following message:

QUOTE

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:"

System32\Drivers\isapnp.sys

You can attempt to repair this file by starting windows setup using the original setup CD-ROM.

UNQUOTE

I never had a corrupted file in any of my computers since 1980 but I think I have just been plain lucky and this is nothing special except if the corruption was intentionally provoked.

However, what happened afterwards seems to be worrisome:

2 - I went for the Windows disk, inserted it in the CD-ROM and started it and got the following message:

QUOTE

An unexpected error (-1) occurred at line 1773 in

d:\XPSPRTM\base\boot\setup\arcdisp.e

File Setup pdd.sys could not be loaded

The error code is 4

Press any key to continue

UNQUOTE

(Note: d:\ is my CD-Rom drive)

3 - I restarted the process again and I got a second message:

An unexpected error (1594182420) occurred at line 1773 in

d:\XPSPRTM\base\boot\setup\arcdisp.e

File setup dd.sys could not be loaded

The error is 14 - Setup cannot continue

Press any key to exit

4 - I tried many times and kept getting always the very same message and the error number was one of the two things that changed but the "line" was always the same 1773.

Different error numbers indicated during as much setup attempts:

(809717346)

(255)

(1668299061)

(-236)

(-4097)

(169283952)

(-236)

(17474564)

(-236)

(809717346)

(-1593832796)

(1594182420)

(-1593832796)

and so on

The Error Codes also changed but not as much, 14; 4; 7; and so on...

5 – As a result, now I cannot start the laptop either from the HDD or from the CD-ROM and since I do not have a floppy drive, I do not know what to do next.

No problem with the valuable data inside because I have an integral copy of it but I badly need the laptop working.

The questions are:

1) - What can the problem with the laptop be ?

2) If the error message when starting from the HDD can be easily understood, what can be the problem with the error messages when attempting to start from the CD-ROM ?

3) – I suppose all generic drivers are loaded when running setup so why is the laptop unable to read the data coming from the CD-ROM ?

4) - How can I get around this situation ?

5) - Any suggestions ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

All the best

Stilicho

[Boris]

The way to fix your initial problem would have been this :-

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315311

Re. your second problem - This issue may occur if your computer contains a hardware component that is either damaged or is incompatible with Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330181

The same info also applies to your third problem.

If the laptop originally came with Windows 98 ......... then I would think it most likely that there is a problem with the read head of the optical drive ?

[Stilicho]

Hi Boris

Sorry for the delay but my internet access is very limited, its not lack of interest.

Thank you very much I am going to follow your instructions. The CD-Roms of these machines are notorious for failing but until now it worked well.

I will let you know the results

All the best

Stilicho