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

2012-06-07T18:40:30+00:00
Hi,

Firstly, it isn't the BIOS upgrade itself that is scary, that is relatively easy. It's the possible consequences of a BIOS update failure that is the scary bit. Only you can assess risk vs reward.

From what I have read (and if Dell are to be believed), there are no fixes/enhancements that would give you ATA mode if you don't already have it. I am a little surprised that the changes you have made (particularly 'combination') haven't worked. Just a thought here, when you exited BIOS you did exit and save didn't you?

There are only three solutions to your problem that I am aware of...
1. Change BIOS to IDE/ATA
2. Use an F6 driver diskette
3. Slipstreaming
Option 1, on the face of it, for whatever reason, does not seem achievable (save perhaps for my thought above).

TorrentG thinks that you should be able to employ option 2 from a device other than a floppy diskette. I am sceptical but it was ages ago and new workarounds may have been developed since I first had to look into this.

Options 2 and 3 are pretty much the same solution, i.e. just different ways of supplying the installation process with the necessary drivers because a 'standard' XP installation disk does not have them.

Having looked at the download link that I gave to you, the format of the download has changed a bit since I last did a slipstream. Back then, the download was an executable that automatically formatted and wrote the floppy diskette for you. Nowadays it seems that the download is actually just the contents of that floppy diskette, i.e. you just need to format your own diskette and transfer the files manually (the diskette does not have to be bootable). These files are also the files that you would need if slipstreaming a CD with the drivers incorporated using nLite.

Tricky
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Anonymous

2012-06-07T17:57:21+00:00

Tricky300,

I haven't done anything yet. I'm not sure what to do. I just read about updating the BIOS and it seems pretty scary. Maybe I should try your route. In fact i just tried to reinstall Ubuntu but the CD disk failed when I tried to start the install, UGH!! I was going to just make the 3.5" diskette from that.

I don't want to permanently mess this computer up. And I know updating the BIOS could do that. I'm just not sure what to do but it doesn't sound like I have many options.
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