HP media center - windows XP freezes / windows recovery fails.

[anamaniac]

HP m7680n
HP direct info: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00739902&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN
Windows XP Media Center (assumed patch 3, but unknown).
2x250GB SATA HDDs in an unknown RAID configuration.
The computer is 2.5-3 years old.

This computer has recently stopped working properly. Windows freezes up shortly after booting. I tried using the windows XP CD to recover the data, but it said something along the lines of HDD failure, and gave me the following error:
Stop: 0x0000007b (0xf78d2524, 0xc0000035, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

I then attempted logging into windows recovery in safe modem and attempted Windows Recovery from a previous working date from two weeks ago. It gave me the message that an attempt to write ove read-over memory failed refering to win32k.sys. I didn't take note of the following error code.

I then just attempted to start windows normally but I got the same error with code:
0x000000BE (0xBF801269, 0x13584021, 0xB9D1BA14, 0x0000000C)
Win32k.sys -address BF977557 base at BF800000

If you need any more information, I'd attempt to collect it. The computer is currently running from a Ubuntu LIVE CD. The computer also is not my own. I can assume it's some type of HDD failure, due to the age and use of no-name HDDs in RAID. I don't know what informatio is stored on the HDDs, so I don't intend to reformat unless needed. I simply want to upgrade to Vista, but I don't have a license to do this with at the moment and I'd rather stay legit on a computer I don't own. I can't get any information from the owner of the computer because she is currently hospitialized.

 

[n3f0ur]

Back data up on Ubuntu to somewhere else.

On a working pc, get this on a disk, boot it up on the problem pc for 5+ passes:

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

If errors exist, restart the PC, tap a key printed on screen for bios, load failsafe default, save & exit, run memtest again.

 

[anamaniac]

I have taken care of the sitation.
Working with such an issue is out of my current capabilities, and thus a professional will do the repairs.
The user is currently just using a Ubuntu live CD for basic net browsing.

Thanks anyways, I'll keep memtest in mind.

 

[anamaniac]

I have taken care of the sitation.
Working with such an issue is out of my current capabilities, and thus a professional will do the repairs.
The user is currently just using a Ubuntu live CD for basic net browsing.

Thanks anyways, I'll keep memtest in mind.

 

[badge]

Sounds like the registry is corrupted. Easiest way to repair the registry is boot to the Windows XP CD and do a repair install. You could also reinstall the OS, obviously. A manual repair of the registry could be done, but it is a lenghty process.