Windows XP Home hangs just before finishing loading

I am running Windows XP Home. This morning when I turned the computer on it booted to a certain point, and then a Blue Screen Of Death came on. Error message was usually (not always) no_more_irp_stack_locations.

The computer would boot up in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking. There it worked fine.

I did some research on the Internet, including here, and took the suggestion to try to restore a previous Windows configuration. That did not help.

So I finally decided to repair Windows. During that process, which took half an hour, it said that MSOE.dll was corrupt, and would be deleted.

Now the computer boots to the point where I can select the user, and my own icons come up on the screen. Then the BSOD appears. This time, no error message is on the BSOD.

To further complicate things, although I can still use the computer in Safe Mode with Networking, my Outlook Express no longer works. Instead, I get an error message that says "Outlook Express cannot be loaded because MSOE.DLL cannot be found." I have tried several suggestions to solve that problem before giving up. Nothing worked.

So now I have two problems. A computer that will not complete booting. And Outlook Express that cannot be opened. Any ideas? Need any more information?

Thanks.

 

Are there quite a few e-mails in OE in the Inbox the last time that you were in there?

 

No, thanks to help from Zander and Welshjim, I had solved a problem with Outlook Express and disappearing messages. As part of that process, I moved almost all messages from my Inbox and Sent Items box. There were only about 15 messages in each.

Of course, the problem I was having with Outlook Express may have been part of a larger problem. But it seemed to be working fine until I did the Windows repair installation. Then it found this problem with MSOE.dll, and that was that.

 

Let me ignore for the moment the problem with Outlook Express and focus on the booting problem. When I turn on the computer, it goes through most of the booting process, up through the screen where I select a user profile.

About 30 seconds after reaching that point, I get a Blue Screen Of Death. No error message appears on the screen. It says that a dump of physical memory is being made to disk, and a counter counts from 1 to 100. Then a message flashes across the bottom of the BSOD (too fast to read), and the computer reboots.

Any suggestions on what to do? I have a home LAN and another computer I can back everything up on. Should I do that (or burn it on CD or DVD) and reinstall Windows? I have never had a problem like this. It looks serious.

Thanks.

 

NO_MORE_IRP_STACK_LOCATIONS" error

Browse this link on Microsoft to see if it may apply
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;906866&x=11&y=9

 

Humbug,

Looked at that article. It was one that came up on Google when I first started having the problem. I think having done a Windows repair install will have taken me to a point where that is not relevant. But I'll see if I can do what the article suggests even though limited to Safe Mode.

Thanks.

 

For the OE problem click start>run and type sfc /scannow. Perhaps the system file checker will replace the file for you. It may fix the other problem also although probably not if a windows reinstall didn't. It's worth a try though.

For the booting problem, how about the possibility of a corrupt user account? You could try creating a new one and see if you can access that one in normal mode.

 

Zander,

Thanks for your suggestions. I tried to do the sfc /scannow command in Safe Mode, but it did not seem to work. Something briefly came up on the screen, but quickly went away. Perhaps that does not work in Safe Mode.

I tried it also in an MS-DOS command screen. It said that Windows File Protection could not initiate a scan of protected system files. The RPC server is unavailable.

Once I get the booting problem resolved (if I do get it resolved), I can try that sfc /scannow command.

As to the corrupt user account, the computer hangs at the screen where I can select a user account. So I suspect that the problem occurs somewhere before that in the boot sequence.

As it happens, I had a very similar problem happen with a laptop running Windows 98. That problem was solved by a System Restore. Unfortunately, when I tried System Restore with this machine, there was only one restore point available, and restoring to that point did not help.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

 

Well, I'm pretty much out of ideas on how to get this computer to load. It seems to get very close, just not close enough.

I suppose one last thing to try is to muck with the Registry. I see a lot of programs that do that advertised. Do any of them work well?

And the final resort is to wipe Windows XP and reinstall. To do that, what is the best way to backup the files and programs that are on the computer? I can put everything on another computer's hard drive. Can I do that through the network? Or better to take the hard drive out of the non-working computer and put it in the other computer as a second hard drive?

 

Still trying to get my Windows XP Home system to boot without hanging. I have found a few issues. Let me describe them, and see if that triggers any comments.

By the way, I have visited a lot of boards over the past couple of days. WindowsBBS is the most helpful, hands down.

1. The Device Manager shows that the Microsoft System Management BIOS Driver is missing or corrupted. I deleted it, and tried Add New Hardware to see if it would reinstall it. It did not. I am trying to figure out a way to get that reinstalled. With or without that driver, my problem remains.

2. sfc /scannow does not seem to work in Safe Mode, which is all I can get to boot.

3. When my computer hangs, the error message starts with Stop 0x0000008e 0xc0000005. Looking on the Internet, that error message seems to indicate either a problem with memory (one person says it is a "sucky memory" error) or a device conflict. So I went over my computer, doing a memory diagnostic, then removing and replacing the two sticks of memory, even leaving one out to see if that worked. I also swapped out the video card for a different one. Nothing helped.

4. I did a repair reinstall of Windows XP. It looks like that wiped out SP2. Is that right? Do I now need to reinstall SP2?

Any comments or suggestions welcomed.

 

You will have to reinstall SP2. I believe that when you do a repair install, it will see things that aren't really there that is on the XP disc and will delete them. Go to Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs and see if it is there. Probably not...

 

MrBill,

You are right. Checked in Add or Remove Programs and it is not there. In my other computer it is listed. Am downloading SP2 now and will install it, see if that solves the problem I have been having.

Thanks.

 

MS will send you a FREE disc with SP2 on it. Sure beats downloading it every time that you need it. It can also be slipstreamed on a CD with XP so that it is all installed at the same time...

 

MrBill,

Getting SP2 on disk is a good idea. Took two hours to download.

Unfortunately, SP2 got halfway through installing and hit an error message saying "Access is denied." Also, I cannot install any programs in Safe Mode -- won't let me install the backup utility or the Windows Debugger.

Oh well, I'll keep trying.

Thanks.

 

Daanii at this stage if you value your time, I would suggest that you backup and do a fresh install. These problems keep going on and on and only a fresh install can handle these.

 

rsinfo,

That's something that seems a better and better option as time goes on. What is the best way to back up the data from the hard disk. Take it out and put it in another computer? Can I backup program files as well as data files, and then restore them?

I have never done a backup and fresh install before. Tried to put in the Windows XP backup utility, but cannot do it in Safe Mode.

Thanks.

 

Well Daanii, you have answered first half of the question yourself. Take out the hard disk & put it in another computer.

No you cannot backup & restore program files - when a program is installed, it not only copies files in its own folder, it also creates/updates a lot of registry keys and copies files in other places. You would have to install every program fresh.

You can backup & restore data - that's not a problem.

 

I agree with the fresh install. I would make sure that it is a CLEAN install. CLICK

 

I am going to do a clean install of Windows XP as soon as I can spare the couple of days it will take to do it all. In the meantime, I was able to get the computer to boot up.

I did a Selective Startup, and kept adding things to the boot until I found what was causing the error. Loading the "Print Spooler" in the Services tab of the Selective Startup causes the BSOD.

So now I can access the computer in Normal Mode, rather than just Safe Mode. There do seem to still be some problems. And looking at my system it is amazing the kind of **** that builds up over three years with four people using a computer. So I do still plan to do the clean install, and start over with a clean system.

But to satisfy my curiousity, is there something I can do to fix the Print Spooler and do a clean boot? This computer has no printer attached, so that is not an issue.

Thanks.

 

Try this. Click start>run and type services.msc and click ok. In the window that opens, scroll through the list and find "print spooler ". Double click on it and then where it says startup type, choose disabled. Then reboot and see if you still get the blue screen.