# STOP: 0X000000F4 error on startup with vista



## peter762033 (Nov 6, 2009)

Hi, i have a problem with my dell laptop running vista. Basically whenever i start it up windows asks me if i want to start it running normally or repair mode. Whenever i select either of these options i allways end up getting a blue screen with the error message 

STOP: 0X000000F4 (0X00000003,0X84BA04D0,0X84BA061C,0X81290330)

Ive been told maybe its a hardware issue?

I have actually been searching around on the net and found that you can burn your own recovery disk for vista and boot it from startup and do a system restore ect. Here is a guide for doing the system restore,

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial142.html

Now ive got up to part 4 but cant get any further because it says i need to load drivers so i click that and then it says 'insert the installation media for the device and click ok to select the driver', i click ok and then it opens up a box with computer, system files ect and it wants me to find a file with setup information. Now i dont know which file of where the file is on the computer i should select, but when i select a file and its the wrong one it says 'the specified location does not contain information about your hardware', so which file should i be selecting? Also i couldnt find out if this version of vista is the 32 or 64 bit, its not on any stickers and obviously i cant get into the computer to find out, could i find out through bios or something? The disk for the recovery is the 32 bit version but i dont know if the laptop is 32 or 64, could this cause a problem?

Here are a few pictures of the above i have explained (sorry for the bad quality)

http://s55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/peter762033/?action=view&current=DSC00164.jpg

http://s55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/peter762033/?action=view&current=DSC00163.jpg


http://s55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/peter762033/?action=view&current=DSC00160.jpg

As you can see the local disk doesnt show how much space free or how big the drive is, and i cant go into it either, if i do everything goes grey and i cant click any buttons apart from x to close the page, is this showing that there is a problem with the hardrive?

http://s55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/peter762033/?action=view&current=DSC00161.jpg

Any help would be great!

thanks


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

Hi - 

Please follow these instructions --> http://www.techsupportforum.com/1871981-post2.html

Attach the resulting zipped file(s) to your next post.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

`

`

*EDIT: * 

The bugcheck posted = *0xf4 (0x3,,,)* = A process critical to the operation of Windows was suddenly & unexpectedly terminated.

Hardware can always be the underlying cause of almost any BSOD. It may be bad RAM, HDD, PSU, etc... that caused this.

However, it could very well be caused by a software update - be it Windows Update or an update to a driver or an installed program that now finds itself in the middle of a fight - usually for a memory address or mem add region that another driver claims for itself or that Windows has declared "off limits" for the protection of the OS. In other words - a 3rd party driver not playing by the rules of the Windows Kernel.

Give us a little time and we'll provide our analysis & conclusions.

JC

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## peter762033 (Nov 6, 2009)

Thanks for the reply, 

i cant get far enough with the computer to beable to download the file and run the test, i can only get as far as the blue screen, is there an .iso version of this so i can boot it from a disk at startup?

thanks


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

Hi - 

Sorry for my bad read of your post. I missed the part about instant BSODs. 

*Screenshot #3* - 
-drive c: present, but no info as to size, free size, etc...
- you have a recovery drive d: appear to be 9.76 GB w/ (blurry) 4.?? GB free ?
- Boot drive x: 
- CD Drive e: - (blurry) - it says "2007.11.03_2329" - then below it "0 bytes free of xyz MB"

What exactly does it say under e: - ?

You are trying to load Vista, correct?

jcgriff2

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## peter762033 (Nov 6, 2009)

No problem, 

- Yep drive c: is present but no information available on it, size ect
- Drive d: is 9.76 gb and has 4.71 gb free
- Drive x: is 33.4 mb and has 30.9 mb free
- The cd in the drive is the recovery disk i created from the page i mentioned
- E: just shows the name of the cd i made

Well im trying to do a system restore using the disk i created from startup but i cant get past step 4 because i cant find the drivers it wants, im guessing they are in drive c: which i cant enter because it just freezes when i select drive c:. 
Could this mean drive c: has a problem? Could i scan it maybe from startup with a bootable disk?
Am i taking the correct steps to fix the issue, is this a common problem? Is there an iso of the file you posted earlier so i can analise the system and get some more info?

thanks again!


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

Sorry - where was the recovery disc made from?

It is a *DVD* - not a CD, correct?

It contains the Vista Operating System?


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## peter762033 (Nov 6, 2009)

I created the disc, i downloaded the iso file from this page 

http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

and then burned the iso file to a cdr

and im trying to do what they are doing in this guide,

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial142.html

thanks


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

Hi - 

Please - toss the CD from the 1st link - it will never work and may have actually further complicated this situation for you. I was curious about the c: drive as it appears "Ghost-like" - telling me that Windows may have already sensed a non-genuine copy somewhere.

You have a recovery partition - which should be the same as if you had Vista recovery DVDs.

Boot into the recovery partition - most systems = press F10 during boot-up. You should see the same screens w/ options - one of which will be Windows System Restore - that is the one we need to try first.

Choose a restore point prior to the trouble occurring.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

YES - the 2nd link you provided is what we are after here - but you will be attempting to boot from the recovery partition - NOT the CD you burned.


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## peter762033 (Nov 6, 2009)

Ok then, how do i boot into the recovery partition? I press F10 on startup and i get this page,

http://s55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/peter762033/?action=view&current=DSC00165.jpg

No option to boot from the recovery partition, is there another way?

thanks


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## peter762033 (Nov 6, 2009)

Just having a look around the net and started thinking maybe a virus is causing the problem, i found this Kaspersky virus scanner which is an iso and boots from startup and can scan without running windows,

http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/06/16/kaspersky-offers-free-rescue-disk-to-clean-virus-without-booting-in-windows/

Could this harm the laptop and make things worse? Is this worth a go?

Thanks!


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## peter762033 (Nov 6, 2009)

Ok i have just ran a PSA Diagnostics test which includes the dell hard drive Disk Self Test along with lots of other memory tests ect and everything has passed, which im guessing means that the problem is not hardware related. So now i know the problem is software related what other steps can i take to solve the issue? Ive seen that maybe its something to do with drivers from a few google searches,

thanks


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

See if these KBs help - 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919529 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927391

I think the downloaded "OS" has done a number on you here. I would look to re-install ASAP. Re-format the HDD with KillDisk then re-install. 

KillDisk - http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

Make bootable KillDisk ISO CD w/ ImgBurn -
ImgBurn - http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

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