BSOD while reinstalling XP

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Hey,

So we have a computer here in the office that won't start up. After the manufacturers splash screen the screen stays black and says something like there are files missing from C:\Windows\config\systems or something like that, I don't remember the exact file location, anyway thats not the point. The point is, I go to reinstall XP, doing a full format. After 4 hours it was only at 50% and then the BSOD appeared. I didn't get all the information, but I did write down the error code, or at least what was in teh parenthesis.

(0xF9550667, 0x00000000, 0xF9550667, 0x00000000)

I googled 0xF9550667 and the only page that came up was a German page, which I translated with google but the english was too broken to find a solution. Can someone please help me? I'm thinking it's a faulty HDD, so I'm going to try a different HDD, but only if nobody here can help me first. I want to try to salvage the current HDD.

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
Besides a failing drive the most common problem seen is a dried up flat ribbon cable if it has been is use for some time. I've seen new ones that were worthless and can give you a headache trying to pin point a problem. Another thought if the system is a year or more old is the battery on the board itself. When those get weak you will start seeing a list of problems due to the loss of cmos information.

The memory addresses are software related however. If the installation disk has finger marks or scratches that will cause problems. At other times it's just a need to restart the installation over after using a lens cleaner on the optical drive. If that drive is going or a second cable or middle connector is worn and the hard drive seemed normal until then that's something else to consider.
 
Well I have no idea how old this computer is. It's been sitting in a filing cabinet in the server room for god knows how long. There was a post-it on top saying it worked fine as of December 06, which is clearly not the case, somebody mislabeled it so that's kind of annoying. I'll try changing the cables first, then the HDD. If that doesn't work I think I may have a spare mobo I can grab a battery from. Thanks for the help I'll let you guys know what happens.
 
Could be a bios problem too. A need for a possible update on an old is far from anything new. You can figure a battery is the low cost item there. For other things? I think you already have that picture.
 
Well turns out it was a faulty HDD. I just replaced the HDD with one that we had lying around, formatted it and it worked just fine with the original cables and battery.
 
If you ever hear any clicking sounds coming from a drive you can count on the read/write heads going doa. The prices on drives have fallen sharply over the years making that a less costly item to replace then something like the latest 2gb performance dimms or the Sapphire Radeon X2600XT or 8800 cards. Plan on replacing the battery some time if you plan to run for any lengthy period of time.

It never hurts to throw a new watch battery in to prevent wondering why you start seeing sudden problems with starting up or the system won't turn on one day. With a fresh battery in any other problems besides a corrupted bios would be other hardwares then due to age and wear.
 
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