# [SOLVED] &quot;!! 0xc0000034 !!&quot; When Vista Boots



## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

Hello all,

I am experiencing an issue with an old HP 530 laptop. I have owned it for many years but I have not used it frequently for the past 2 years or so until now. It was working fine (albeit slow) until I booted it the other day after a Windows Update. Every time I boot, it goes to a black screen where I assume it is installing updates, but it gets stuck and flickers and shows the error code: "!! 0xc0000034 !!".

F11, which is I understand the recovery on-boot shortcut for HP systems, does not work. It simply goes to the Windows Error screen. Safe Mode, Last Known Config and Start Windows Normally do not work. It goes onto the aforementioned error screen.

I have tried a Windows Vista recovery disc. The disc loads, but I have had no luck with the options available on it.

Startup Repair:
- It scans, and then says to reboot to see if it successful. It is not.

System Restore:
- There is only one restore point, which is very recent (most likely the Windows Update that caused this). I tried it and received the error message "System Restore did not complete successfully".

Command Prompt:
- I have tried "bootrec.exe /fixmbr" and "bootrec.exe /fixboot". Both state "The operation has completed successfully." but there is no difference.
- I am about to try "chkdsk", although I am not confident this will work.

Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool:
- I ran this, and it said it found no problems. There was no difference after reboot.

Installing Vista:
- I do not have a valid product key, so I skipped inputting it. It then gave me an error message: "Windows cannot open the required file D:\Sources\Install.wim".

I am out of ideas and would greatly appreciate any assistance. Please don't hesitate to ask me for further details, and I also have some photos that I can provide if needed. I will update this if I try anything else or find anything new.

This is the second time in a matter of weeks I have encountered a failure after a Windows Update. Does anyone know if there is currently an issue with these updates on Vista machines? I also updated my Windows 7 laptop but this was unaffected.

Thanks in advance!


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

I didn't realise that I could not update the thread after 15 minutes.

Anyway, here's an update:

Command Prompt:
- I have tried "sfc /scannow" and "sfc /verifyonly", and for both received "Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation".
- "chkdsk /f" and "/r"= Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected."
- I am currently running "chkdsk /f C:" (chkdsk on the C drive). I will update with the results later.


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Update:

- The "chkdsk /f C:" scan found 0KB in bad sectors, and ended with the message "Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50". (Again, I can provide a screenshot if further details are required).
- In the F10 boot menu, I ran a HDD Self Test and a Memory Check, and it passed both with no issues.
- I also used a Seatools discs to run a long scan. It passed both the short and long tests, so there is no issue with the hard drive or other components as far as I can tell. (I have a screenshot of this too).

It may be worth mentioning too that the laptop's battery has become very weak with age. If the laptop's charger is removed or it is unplugged, it turns off immediately.


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## shawnpb (May 30, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Go to "Start" type in CMD located CMD.exe right click on CMD.exe then select "Run As Administrator" at the command prompt type in then hit enter... 


```
CHKDSK /R
```
type in Y for yes then manually reboot.


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## shawnpb (May 30, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Is your copy of Windows legit?


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

If I say "no" will Jack Bauer hunt me down? :lol:

But yeah, it is a legit copy. Thank you for your reply. I tried the product key on my laptop but obviously it has expired. I downloaded the recovery disc though because I did not get one with this laptop.

I tried "chkdsk /r C:" and I received the same message as I did with "/f". At no point did it prompt me to type "y/n" though.

Also, I can not access Windows, so I don't have access to the Start Menu. I access the CMD from the disc.


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Hi, as you are able to access the RE (repair your computer) option the system is seeing your OS, go to command prompt and at the x:\sources> prompt type:-

bcdedit | find "osdevice" (press enter) use the resulting drive letter in these cmds (assume c At x:\sources> type:- ( what appears in red, press enter after each line)


C:
cd windows\system32\config
C:\windows\system32\config>ren default default.old
C:\windows\system32\config>ren sam sam.old
C:\windows\system32\config>ren security security.old
C:\windows\system32\config>ren software software.old
C:\windows\system32\config>ren system system.old

C:\windows\system32\config>cd regback

C:\windows\system32\config\regback>copy default c:\windows\system32\config
C:\windows\system32\config\regback>copy sam c:\windows\system32\config
C:\windows\system32\config\regback>copy security c:\windows\system32\config
C:\windows\system32\config\regback>copy software c:\windows\system32\config
C:\windows\system32\config\regback>copy system c:\windows\system32\config

Restart your computer


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Thank you very much for your detailed and instructive reply jenae. I did as you said, and the files successfully copied over. Unfortunately, while the "!! 0xc0000034 !!" has now gone, I still can't get into Windows.

What happens is, when Windows Error Recovery appears and I select Start Windows Normally, it begins to load, flashes a blue screen very briefly and then restarts.

The blue screen only appears for about a second, so I recorded it and paused the video on my computer. I don't know if this is of any use, but here is a snapshot: http://i1242.photobucket.com/albums/gg528/ReeceH92/vlcsnap-2012-07-17-18h23m06s26.png

I have tried everything from the thread again (System Restore, Startup Repair, Install Windows) and so on. I may try chkdsk again as I haven't used the CMD again yet. I will post if anything new happens.

Any suggestions from here on?


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Hi, in the RE (repair your computer) option select Command prompt at the prompt type:-

sfc/scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows (press enter)


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

I tried, but it says "There is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. Restart Windows and run sfc again". I have tried several times after reboots but I still get the same message.

I think the problem is that, when I load the disc, click "Repair your computer" and select the operating system, it automatically goes onto System Repair and there's no way that I know of skipping it.


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Hi, go back to the command prompt in the RE (repair your computer) and at the x sources prompt type:-

dism.exe /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions (Press enter) Then run the sfc command from my previous post.


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

"'dism.exe' is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file".

Persistent, isn't it?


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Hi, My error, reading this again I realize you are running windows seven your problem machine has windows Vista, sadly Dism is not shipped with vista, we have to do this the hard way.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/for...iguring-updates-cycle-637425.html#post3677630


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

I followed all your instructions but unfortunately it remains the same. The brief blue screen is still the same as before.

One thing I should possibly mention:



> HLKM\Offline Components\ AdvancedInstallersNeedResolving
> HKLM\Offline Components\ PendingXmlIdentifier


Here I could not locate "AdvancedInstallersNeedResolving". However, I assume this isn't a problem as you said to delete both keys anyway. I managed to delete the other one. I then restarted the computer but as I said, it didn't load Windows.

EDIT: I just tried a second time, and when I get to this step:



> next type:- ren pending.xml pending.old press enter


It says "The system cannot find the file specified".

Also you mentioned Windows 7, do you mean the disc is Windows 7? Because I don't think it is, it is a Vista CD.


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Hi, no the reference to windows seven was mine I meant I thought you were using seven until I read your first post again and noticed the problem was on a vista machine, all fixes are relevant to both OS, so it doesn't effect what's happening. 

Running the above cmd 's a second time would not work as you have already renamed and removed the pendingXML. Try the sfc offline cmd again, it's the one we are trying to get running.


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Ah I see. I did the "sfc/scannow" again, and this time it said:



> "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log"


So far so good! When I rebooted and attempted to start Windows, this time I got a Windows Boot Manager error.



> "File: ntoskrnl.exe
> 
> Status: 0xc0000098
> 
> Info: Windows failed to load because a required file is missing, or corrupt"


So, if I'm assuming correctly, the system is just missing the file "ntoskrnl.exe". I've ran Startup Repair and nothing has changed, but I don't want to run System Restore without checking with you first. I understand that System Restore goes back to before a change in software is made, but does this apply to registry changes too? There is still only one restore point as before but I don't want to undo everything we've done so far, just in case.

Would trying to re-install Vista again be a possible fix?


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Hi, Yes reinstalling Vista if it is an option is the best thing to do. Good luck, any problems post back.


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

I tried installing Vista but got the same error as in the original thread.

Is this "ntoskrnl.exe" file on the disc? I thought about copying it over from the disc using the Command Prompt and tried it but I'm not sure if I used the right path as I simply guessed it was in the "system32" folder.

If not, is there perhaps a way to download this file, store it on a USB stick and somehow copy it from that?

I still haven't done System Restore, although I must say I don't have much faith in it anyway.


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Hi, we could try replacing this file however experience tells that this is not the problem (it relates to bootmanager) when you said reinstall windows I thought a format and fresh install This is the best option if you have data on the HDD then you will need to copy it off before format. Mindful these sort of problems very often mean a HDD problem, from the RE (repair your computer) option try running at the x:\sources prompt:-

chkdsk c:/r press enter 5 stages of chldsk will run, if it returns a lot of error messages (especially bad sectors) your HDD is a problem. If not try a restart after this.


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

I ran chkdsk again and its the same result as before, it found 0kb in bad sectors and said "Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50". Let me know if you would like a photo with further details.

I did some Googling and tried the steps on this page: WINDOWS ROOT>\SYSTEM32\NTOSKRNL.EXE IS CORRUPT OR MISSING - Microsoft Answers but it didn't work. When I try to copy, it says "The system cannot find the path specified", and trying to rename the file results in "The syntax of the command is incorrect".

When you say formatting and a fresh install, are you talking about a different method I haven't tried? You can format using the Command Prompt right? There aren't really any important files that I need to save so I don't mind losing whatever's on there.


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Hi, follow the instructions here:-

Clean Install with a Full Version of Vista - Vista Forums


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Unfortunately that's what I've tried and it still doesn't work. Interestingly it didn't say the key was invalid this time, so perhaps I entered it in wrong before. However it still shows the following error:



> "Windows cannot open the required file D:\Sources\Install.wim. The file does not exist. Make sure all files required for installation are available, and restart the installation. Error code: 0x80070002"


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Hi, I wonder if you only have a startup recovery disk? The OS is not on that disk, you say you cannot access the built in recovery partition post#1. You could borrow a copy of the OS and use it to install same version as you have a product key for, all versions are on the one dvd.


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

Unfortunately I don't think I know anyone that has a disc like that. Do you know where I could find/make/purchase such a disc? If I need to re-install the operating system I might as well go for Windows 7, if its not much more expensive.

I have two more laptops in my household, one with Vista and one with Windows 7. Am I right that you can only use one product key per system?


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## winxp rules (Jul 28, 2011)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*



ReeceH92 said:


> I tried installing Vista but got the same error as in the original thread.
> 
> Is this "ntoskrnl.exe" file on the disc? I thought about copying it over from the disc using the Command Prompt and tried it but I'm not sure if I used the right path as I simply guessed it was in the "system32" folder.
> 
> ...


system 32 is correct


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## winxp rules (Jul 28, 2011)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*



ReeceH92 said:


> Unfortunately I don't think I know anyone that has a disc like that. Do you know where I could find/make/purchase such a disc? If I need to re-install the operating system I might as well go for Windows 7, if its not much more expensive.
> 
> I have two more laptops in my household, one with Vista and one with Windows 7. Am I right that you can only use one product key per system?


legally you can only use one product key per system:angry:


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

@winxp rules: Yeah, it's pretty dumb.

I've just ordered a disc from eBay that will hopefully include all of the installation files (I checked the listing name and description, it said "re-install" many times. I will post back after I've received and tried it.

Jenae, I just want to say how grateful I am for all your help. Your posts have been very clear, detailed and helpful. I feel bad for pestering you and that your suggestions didn't work! It's a damn persistent machine. Hopefully I won't have to bug you again if this disc works. At least you got it to a stage where we now know the problem, and as someone interested in working in IT Support I've learned a lot from your posts. Thank you very much


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## ReeceH92 (Aug 15, 2010)

*Re: "!! 0xc0000034 !!" When Vista Boots*

I'm happy to report that my laptop is fixed, with Vista successfully re-installed. From now on I'll be sure to remember the difference between a "recovery" and a "re-install" disc. Once again, thank you for everything Jenae. :smile:


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