Windows 7 Problems loading: c000021a {Fatal System Error} ... status of 0xc000003a

tureklay

New Member
Hey everybody.

So the full error code in blue screen after booting (after win7 loading logo) is:
STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
The Session Manager Initialization system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc000003a (0x00000000 0x00000000).
The system has been shut down.
Had the autocheck bad boy as well:
AUTOCHK not found - skipping autocheck
Eliminated it via registry. So, pretty much only 0xc000003a is left. Also, autocheck as I understand is just an indicator of a problem rather than a cause...

Okay, some background:

Have Windows 7 Ultimate x64, decided to install Linux Mint x64 (I am on it right now). Obviously, had to move some partitions around - that went well. At one point, I had nice dual boot with GRUB: Win7 and Mint. However, probably from having nothing else to do, I decided to be anal and react to this warning in Mint that I have a lot "...bad sectors...". So, I scanned/checked them and tried to repair on Mint. And that was the breaking point, I think.

After googling a lot, I fixed up nicely my boot records, mbr... So I now I got dual boot sys as well, it is just that Win 7 gives me that autocheck + 0xc000003a

I have tried the following:

1) Registry editing "Bootexecute"...
2) Tried tackling this hidden partitions issue in GRUB. AFAIK, they are not hidden. Although, not sure. Tried unhide(hdX,Y) - did not work ("select disk does not exist"). Here is a "fdisk -l" in Linux by the way:
Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0000000a

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 17346 139331713+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 17347 19457 16956607+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 19203 19457 2048287+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 17347 17996 5221062 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 19071 19201 1052226 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda8 17997 19070 8626873+ 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order
3) repairing with windows 7 cd
4) setting the drive in question as active numerous times
5) some other desperate stuff as replacing identical autocheck.exe from different (but same cd) win7 instalations in case it was corrupt.
6) PTedit - doesnt work because win7 is x64
7) Checked the hard drive for any moved files in directories like found.00000 or similar

It has been 2-3 days with at least 6hours each. I am running out of options and MS tech support sites don't help.

If you need any further info to help, let me know.
Thanks.
 
Hi and welcome to the forums,

So, I scanned/checked them and tried to repair on Mint. And that was the breaking point, I think.
Was there no option to skip Windows 7 partition when repairing on Mint?

Try these if you haven't yet:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1.How to repair MBR on Windows 7 | eHow.com

2. How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If nothing helps, consider reinstalling Windows 7.
 
Thanks for the reply even though you did not pay much attention.

as I have said in the first place, my boot record and MBR work just fine. Not only that, I have indicated that I get the windows logo screen. I have used bcdedit to fully remake and restore the booting part. Again, it is not a booting problem as far as I understand.

Reinstall, obviously, is not an option as I would have done that already.

Thank you,
Keep the ideas going.
 
I'm sure cybercore was listening, it's just you post is a long and drawn out. No need for comments like that.

Had the autocheck bad boy as well:

AUTOCHK not found - skipping autocheck

Eliminated it via registry. So, pretty much only 0xc000003a is left. Also, autocheck as I understand is just an indicator of a problem rather than a cause...

Could you explain this in detail...........................Eliminated it via registry
 
Is it possible something stupid like a driver update, a security program or other installed program- is causing problems?
 
@reghakr
yeah, sorry, could've made the post more concise.

AUTOCHK not found - skipping autocheck... that was an initial warning\error before the blue screen. I disabled the autocheck on boot via registry on HKEY..../System/ControlSetXX/... can't remember the exact path. I edited the value of Bootexecute, where it was executing autocheck on boot. At first, I tried excluding C:/ of being checked at all like "autocheck autochk /k:C *" ... Did not help, so I just removed the line all together - left "bootexecute" empty. That indeed got rid of "AUTOCHK not found - skipping autocheck". Oh and obviously, I did all those changes via another(new) windows 7 installation on another hdd, I loaded up hive of dead OS registry and edited it. I don't think that autochk is an actual problem here, it can be an indicator, a clue of whats wrong though.

thanks.


@Celestra
No, haven't installed anything like that.
 
The CurrentControlSet section in the registry is something you should never mess with. There's always other names such as CurrenControlSet002 or CurrentControlSet003. Did you delete the value under this section also.​

I''ve been working with the registry since 1995 and still export the key(s) I'll be deleting or modifying.............big mistake.|​

I'd say after that, unless you exported the key, you're in for a re-install​

At least you'll get the Windows 7 bootloader.​

Last resort if you manage to get into Windows, try checking msconfig, under the Boot tab and see if you can set windows 7 as default.​
 
I know the thing with the registries, have some experience as well. I have backups + I edited it carefully. on Controlset01 and 02 not CurrentControlSet, as I am sure you know there is no such thing when you edit a registry of an OS which is NOT active. It gets shown only on your current OS. CurrentControlSet gets it all from 01 or 02, isn't that true? Anyway. Editing registry is definatelly not the problem, because I had the same error before I even attempted to run regedit. Also, I can always use the backup again and keep having the autocheck error again.

As I understand the key point might be in "status of 0xc000003a" and in the fact, that I made a mistake of checking the disk on linux and maybe misread something.

Another possibility although a bit remote, is the partitioning resizing that I made, which actually included moving the windows partition. Even though, it was all good after it, like even after 10 or so reboots. So as much as it would be convenient to focus the blame on partitioning, I think that is not the case now.

Oh and as for msconfig, when I had two installations of Windows 7 on separate hdd's (one working and one dead), I made sure that under the boot tab in msconfig I had the defaults and all other settings correctly.

Thanks for such fast replies btw.
 
No offense, but.........
I disabled the autocheck on boot via registry on HKEY..../System/ControlSetXX/... can't remember the exact path
and
I edited it carefully. on Controlset01 and 02 not CurrentControlSet

this is slightly contradictory

There is always an entry entered in CurrentControlSet along with one of the others.

It has been 2-3 days with at least 6hours each

Use GParted and start over. It'll take less than a day.;)
 
no worries. I can't remember the exact paths now, but I remember what I did exactly and that is what counts.

Yes I agree it would be much faster to have a clear partition with a clean install. but I can't do that, too much of software installed, customized.. moving personals back and forth.

Besides, it became kind of a challenge.

got some ideas of my own, but decided to post this meanwhile i tackle this.

Anyhow, if you get some more ideas let me know, thanks!
 
Solved it!! after 3-4days! :)

So what happened is that before tampering with the registry I made my own copies of registry files in %systemroot%/system32/config/ ... And if I did something wrong or wanted to test how it was before I backuped from the copies that I made myself. However, it did not occur to me at that time to backup registry from %systemroot%/system32/config/RegBack

It was strange though, that the SYSTEM registry file from backup dir RegBack was about 400KB less than my own made backup.

Also, I believe that this can help and solve any of the similar problems which occur with "AUTOCHECK not found" and "status of *errorcode*" if the options in my first post are exhausted.

What you do is:

1) bootup from Windows 7/Vista installation CD or just from LiveUSB of Linux, just get into command line prompt capable of copying/moving files.
2) rename current registry copies for backup which are in %systemroot%/system32/config/ in case you could mess it up even more
3) copy registry files from %systemroot%/system32/config/RegBack to %systemroot%/system32/config/
4) reboot, baby.

Simple Stupid, you always have to keep it that way :)

Good luck and thanks for trying!!!
 
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