Maximum PC

Hello...I'm getting the following BSOD with a Dell Inspiron 1525:

Stop: C000021a (Fatal System Error)
The initial session process or system process terminated unexpectedly with a status
of 0x00000000 (0xc0000001 0x00100500).
The system has been shut down.

The 1525 is running Vista 32-bit Home Premium with a T2330 dual-core.

I cannot boot into safe or normal modes. Here's what I've tried so far:

Last known good config
Chkdsk /r
Overwrite csrss.exe and winlogon.exe via the repair console cmd
Different RAM
Reseat CMOS battery
There is one minidump file that I have found in hooking the hdd up externally, but it's from 7/27, and this problem is 5 days old.
Wanted to update the bios, but Dell has it in exe form and Winrar doesn't give me an option to extract from it.

I've been able to back everything up for the customer that they want, in case a format needs to be done, but I wanted to find out if anyone had further advice before I do that. I'd be grateful for any help that fellow MPC'ers might have...have a great day!

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... 4e118e1ffd

and

http://www.faultwire.com/solutions-fata ... *1314.html

And all of this: https://www.google.com/search?q=bugchec ... 80&bih=717

Basically there's a security issue. If you backed everything up, I'd just reformat rather than attempt a clean up and hope it won't happen again.

I visited that first link when I first started working on this, hence my overwriting of the csrss and winlogon files. Contrary to what seems to be implied, I have consulted "Google support" quite extensively before posting here. I also forgot to mention I did a full virus scan with the drive connected externally to another pc. It did find and remove some items, which obviously didn't help. A lot of the Faultwire link can only be followed if you're booted into Windows, which I'm not able to do with this error.

All that said, I agree I am probably at the format point. Thanks for the input!

I would try sfc /scannow if this is XP before reloading. It will save a lot of time if it works. You should let us know what the OS is when asking questions about a pc.

XP:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/docu ... x?mfr=true

Win 7:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofth ... cannow.htm

Nasty

From the original post:

I tried the sfc /scannow in the Vista repair console, it gave me the message that there was already a repair operation that needed a system restart to complete...which of course I can't do since I am unable to boot into Windows. I'm ok with formatting at this point, it's just something I generally like to leave until the last resort.

Kleinkinstein, thanks for the link, I'm all about snappy kindness! Fortunately, I've been in the geek biz for about 15 years now and have done many a reload. Being a MaxPC reader for most of those years, what I learn here and in the mag keeps me up to date and sharp. Thanks again everyone!