New install + SP2 = ntdll.dll error

[John Munsey Jr]

I have a Dell Dimension 4400 with standard hardware on which I just
did two fresh installs. The XP Pro CD includes SP1 and most security
updates.

Anyway after installing XP SP2 the system will not boot up - get a
blue screen:
STOP: c0000221 Unknown Hard Error
\SystemRoot\System32\ntdll.dll

System will boot into safe mode but will not into safe mode with
network support, though removing the network card after the SP2
install does not help.

I may try removing the NIC and doing a wipe seinstall again to see,
but I dunno.

Any ideas?

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

John Munsey Jr wrote on 11-Sep-2004 8:40 PM:

> Anyway after installing XP SP2 the system will not boot up - get a
> blue screen:
> STOP: c0000221 Unknown Hard Error
> \SystemRoot\System32\ntdll.dll

http://www.aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm indicates this could be a bad
checksum on the file. Run "sfc /scannow" to reload that file or look for
it in the \system32\dllcache folder and copy it to \system32. or you
might find it in %windir%\ServicePackFiles\i386. Make sure that date is
something like 4 August 2004 to get the SP2 version of the file.

Also see http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=101096, although the advice
in that article is rather weak.

Then run chkdsk on your hard drive and check your SMART status and your
event log to see if your hard disk is beginning to fail.

--
Kent W. England, Microsoft MVP for Windows Security