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Thread ID: 61768 2005-09-15 23:07:00 Computer with odd booting problems (as usual) Agent_24 (57) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
388622 2005-09-16 03:37:00 Thos errors show that you are getting real errors. But they are probably not on the disk. :D

It looks very much as if the data are being corrupted in their travel from the disk to the computer.

It's a SATA system, so there aren't many wires involved. I'd try adding an external earth conductor from the disk to the motherboard or case. Have you got a clip lead. (That's being hopeful, but an earth problem is one thing you can easily eliminate.)
Graham L (2)
388623 2005-09-16 03:59:00 a bad connection from the HDD's case to the chassis can cause errors? how does that work?

Just turned it back on, and tried to boot into safe mode in an attempt to install AVG:

STOP: C000021a Unknown Hard Error
Unknown Hard Error

:groan: :confused: :horrified
Agent_24 (57)
388624 2005-09-16 04:11:00 If any wire (or its connections) in the actual SATA cable is intermittent that will cause major problems. The earth one is the only one you can easily bypass. So it's worth a try.

But yes, it used to be standard in real computers to run heavy earth leads from each rack mounted device to a common ground terminal in each rack. All the racks were bonded with heavy cables too.
Graham L (2)
388625 2005-09-16 04:32:00 Tried a new SATA cable but makes no difference.

what can anyone tell me about this "C000021A unknown hard error"?
microsoft of course have useless information.
Agent_24 (57)
388626 2005-09-16 04:42:00 Hmmm,

This maybe similar to that C000021 error.

support.microsoft.com
is what that hard error means.

You can also get that C000021 (not A error), with Goback

support.microsoft.com

Or this

www.microsoft.com
Speedy Gonzales (78)
388627 2005-09-16 09:21:00 OK... did some research via Google...
As far as the Unmountable Boot Volume issue... did you try this

You can boot to the XP cd and when you see the Welcome to setup press the letter R
You will get a dos prompt
Then type "chkdsk /p" without the quotes and hit enter
When that is done type "fixboot" and hit enter
"Y" and enter at the prompt
Then type "exit" and hit enter
The system will now reboot into Windows

There are other fixes online... ranging from installing a new Windows over top of the old one WITHOUT formatting (aka dirty install)

Another fix consisted of deleting and reinstalling the latest SATA drivers.

Other sites advised of pressing F6 when prompted during an install to load the SATA drivers
Myth (110)
388628 2005-09-16 09:40:00 As far as the C000021A error:

MS Help/Support (support.microsoft.com)

MS Help/Support (support.microsoft.com)

Experts Exchange (www.experts-exchange.com) (scroll past the ads etc)

and finally Aumha (aumha.org)

I would say the last 2 links would help you more... but look over the first 2 anyway
Myth (110)
388629 2005-09-16 22:32:00 had this happen to a pc that came my way just recently
safe mode boot ok, normal boot BSOD

heres what I did
f8 boot select vga mode
update video drivers using device manager........ advanced............. update driver
beama (111)
388630 2005-09-18 01:45:00 Well... I'm still not sure what actually caused the problem, I'm guessing corrupt data on the harddrive - but anyway I did a repair-installation of windows and now it's booting normally again.

But I also think I have a problem with a virus/spyware/whateverelseware as I was just about to update norton when the internet connection died, and norton came up telling me auto-protect had just been turned off. I turned this back on and after a few minutes the same thing happened.

Now the internet won't work at all and norton keeps having fits... Put the harddrive in a friends computer and scanned with norton which only came up with 18 new.net spyware programs, no viruses and all were removed.

Only problem is now I can't scan the harddrive again as I don't have access to my friends computer anymore and my computer doesn't support SATA.
Agent_24 (57)
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