I receive the following stop error when trying to install Windows XP: Stop: 0x0000007B

Anonymous

I need help with this error code: Stop: 0x0000007B (0xF7C85524,0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x000000000)

I'm a Microsoft Answers noob. I have an old computer I'm trying to reinstall Windows XP on. It's a Dell XPS Dimension 3 (3.40 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4, 1G RAM). It won't boot normally or in Safe Mode. I have tried using Fixmbr, Fixboot, Bootcfg /rebuild, chkdsk /r, Memtest86, Killdisk. I have tried installing using another hard drive (which leads me to believe it might be a hardware issue). It gave the same error code, I believe, although I didn't write it down. The only thing I've found that I haven't tried is "How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting" since it says that it won't work on OEM devices. The error code is Stop: 0x0000007B (0xF7C85524,0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x000000000). I tried installing Ubuntu on both drives and they installed and worked properly. I don't know what else to try except hardware troubleshooting, although I'm not too good with hardware issues. If you have any recommendations that might put me closer to a resolution I would greatly appreciate it!

P.S. Windows XP actually ran on the second hard drive I tried (which is currently the drive in the machine right now). I installed it and it booted straight into Windows. Yay! I rebooted this setup many times with no problems. But I had an issue with Microsoft Security Essentials updating so I thought a clean install would be better. In retrospect I wish I had tried harder to fix that issue but I didn't. The first hard drive incurred a Windows crash that caused me to upgrade to a Windows 7 machine. This was over 1.5 years ago. I just thought the full back story might help.

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Anonymous

I wanted to post this update to help people that may experience this problem in the future. I finally got it to work. After many combinations and permutations, I ended up having a “NTLDR is missing” error message. I used this link

http://tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm

I followed the instructions, made sure I had a version of Windows XP installed on the hard drive [after using Killdisk many times], and changed the boot preference to Drive>SATA operation>RAID Autodetect/ATA. I booted the FixNTLDRiso disk and after the first run rebooted and VOILA! My computer booted into Windows. Yay!!

After installing all the Windows updates its still working like a charm. Hope this helps!!

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Anonymous

Hi,

I am close to certain (but experience tells me very little is 100% certain), that a generic windows installation CD will install without the need for F6 diskette, provided that BIOS is set to RAID Autodetect/ATA (or possibly 'combination'). AHCI is a more efficient disk access method but does require F6 diskette or slipstreaming. If the CD is already slipstreamed for your PC, AHCI should work without F6. Given that you say your BIOS defaults to RAID Autodetect/AHCI, I would expect a CD targeted specifically for your system to support this, whereas a generic CD would not.

I doubt that they will provide F6 diskette but you never know. If you don't ask you probably won't get.

You can mark replies in this thread as 'Answers'...

...but if memory serves me correctly you can only mark a maximum of 2 'Answers'. I would suggest my final diagnosis (and maybe my first reply) as candidates but this is entirely at your discretion. You may even want to hold off on marking 'answers' until you get another CD from Dell and try it. This also helps other people who are looking at this thread hoping to find a solution to 7B stops.

You can designate any other replies as helpful if you think that it is approriate.

Tricky

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Anonymous

Hi,

Did this PC originally have Vista or Win7 installed?

I have seen the 0x0000007B BSOD caused by trying to install XP to a hard drive whilst BIOS is designating the drive as AHCI instead of IDE. XP does not have native AHCI drivers and the consequence is a 7B stop.

If BIOS is set to AHCI, change the BIOS setting to IDE/ATA.

There are other options but research on the Dell website leads me to suspect that these might prove problematical. Can you confirm whether or not your PC has a floppy disk drive (the Dell picture makes me think it doesn't).

Tricky

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93 additional answers

Anonymous

2012-06-09T18:58:05+00:00

Hi,

As I said earlier, the fixes and enhancements would not indicate that your problem would be solved by any BIOS update available. IMO, leave it alone unless you read them for yourself and decide that you need one of the fixes/enhancements (or you want to try it as a last resort to try and solve this problem).

If you do update, it is best done with a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) in place to minimise the chances of a power cut causing BIOS update failure.

Tricky
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Anonymous

2012-06-09T19:12:17+00:00
Tricky300,

Yes sorry I forgot you answered that already. My mind is jumbled with computer problem answers.

I want to make sure I am asking for the right thing when I call Dell. Would it be better to:
1. Ask for a specifically designed installation disk for my Service Tag.
2. A generic installation disk.
3. Just a 3.5" diskette with the proper drivers.
Also, once I receive said disk, should I:

a. Change the BIOS settings to RAID Autodetect/ATA

b. Keep them as RAID Autodetect/AHCI

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm not sure which way is up at this point.
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