Error received all of a sudden "Stop: 0x000000F4"

Hi,

I;m not sure why this is happening. I have not added anything new in terms of hardware or saoftware except Norton Internet Security 2009 a few eeks back. What I'm seeing is the following:

*** Stop: 0x000000F4 ((oxooooooo3, ox8ACA3A08, 0x0805D297c)

If I allow it to do a dump it will some times get me back into Windows, but more times then not I'll see a screen telling me that No boot filename received and assks for a boot disk.

I have Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002 SP3.
Intel Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80ghz 2.99GB Ram.

I've tried to look online for some help and Microsft does even show this error.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jason

 

Freudian Slip?

Have you tried doing a system restore to a point before this started happening?

 

Not yet, it's been sort of difficult to logged in for an extented time. I thought it was related to Firefox or IE but I was looking at system information when it happend last.

 

I'd start with the system restore, perhaps starting in safe mode would give you the time to do this.

 

I'll give it a try. It's not allowing me to get back into Windows now. I keep seeing the No bootable device message afte I restart the computer.

 

Here are a couple MS knowledge base articles on your stop error, not sure if they will apply to your problem but might be worth checking out;

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916199

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330100

 

I've been trying to get into Sfe Mode, but it's just not allowing me to access the option.

 

I was able to get logged in and select a system restore date. Lets see if this does anything.

 

I let my computer sit for a bit, not fdoing anything and that same error message popped up. When I try to get into Safe Mode (F8) it does nothing. I'm going to try it agin to see if it allows me to get in this time, but I have no idea what is causing this issue, unless it's related to Nortons.

 

I'm still laughing .............

Jason: There are a lot of happy campers out there using Norton but Symantec lost my allegiance a few years ago. You may want to consider some other options or do a little homework to determine if any kind of change might be worth pursuing.

 

I'm being to wonder. We had gotten Norton's when we bought these computer and also Webroot Spy Sweeper only. Everything seemed to be working ok until the 2009 version of NIS. I was told that this version now had spyware and the two are conflicting with each other. I turn Webroot off from auto-loading and it seemed to be fine for a bit. The only program I've added this past month or so was the upgrade to NIS 2009. IF anything I've been thinking of going back to NIS 2008 and seeing if I still have these issues.

 

Give that a go but one other thing to consider is a failing hard drive...

The boot errors indicate that could be the case and one of the KB articles BillB reffered to (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330100) also relates to hard drive problems.

What's the configuaration Drives and Models in your system?

 

The Drive configuration in Bios is SATA Port 0 = HDS722525VLSA80. No other SATA ports are in use.

 

You may want to test the drive with Hitachi's diagnotic tools here

 

I decided to turn off the computer and check the connects to the hard disk. I disconnected and re-connected it and turned the computer back on and .....so far.....it's been fine. Usually by this time the blue screen kicks on and I have to reboot. I'll let it go for a littlw while longer and then try to do some stuff and see if the blue screen returns.

 

Sounds good, I'd still run some diagnostics on the drive though, you don't want it to fail at a crucial moment.

 

I checked the connection of the hard drive. I unplugged the power and just unconnected then reconnected the hard drive cable connection. I rebooted and I have not gotten the blue screen or error message since. Usually I would get the message after a minute or so after rebooting. I think I'm in the clear now. Thanks for all your advise.