Cannot get past start up - 0xc00000e9

nope...nothing except monitor mouse and keyboard...I will go to that link..thank you

sigh...nothing on that link is helping...thanks for trying tho

wow this is crazy...how can the error messages I get while trying to re install windows 7 be different? 0.o

this time it said "Setup cannot continue due to a corrupted file. Contact the vendor of your windows installation disc or your system administrator for assistance"

-_-

also worth noting, the default text right before where i type in command prompt is "X:\Sources"

wtfffffffff

Assuming the installation media disk is in good shape (in other words, it wasn't used as an ice scraper or a frisbee for your dog :)) I'm leaning more and more to a hard drive failure. About the only way I know to verify if a disk works is to find another machine and see if it will do the reformat/reinstall. You'd want to make a system image of that test machine so it can be returned to it's original condition. Or you could try to borrow someone elses install DVD and see if it works on your machine.

Once again thanks so much for advice :) Well when I back up my data i took my hard drive out and put it in a friends computer to take the files off it and it worked fine on his computer to do that. I had another friend suggest that maybe i should re install some other windows like xp or something with a legit copy, then use the upgrade (this is how i got windows 7 in the first place is by doing that)

I will report back once I have tried these things

question, how could I use someone elses install DVD if the serial number isnt meant for multiple computers? or could I just use the serial number from my copy?

As long as the 25 digit product key that came with your upgrade disk is valid, you'd use that key to activate your Windows 7. Doesn't matter whose install media you use. One caution: as I understand things, your 25 digit product key will be tied to a specific version of Windows 7. If your key came with 7 Home Premium (for example) you'd have to use a 7 Home Premium disk - not a Pro or Ultimate.

ran hard drive diagnostics, heres the result

Test Result: FAIL Test Error Code: 06-Quick Test on drive 1 did not complete! Status code = 07 (Failed read test element), Failure Checkpoint = 65 (Error Log Test) SMART self-test did not complete on drive 1!

wow I must be really screwed. downloaded and burned to CD the official HDD diagnostic tool from WD, and ran the quick scan from boot. this almost automatically failed, then asked if I wanted to do a full media scan so i said yes.....took a break, watched the final episode of Lost (which i think could have been better) and came back to check on it and it literally just says

Too many errors found - please contact technical support error / status code: 0225

is there anything else i can possibly do?

My usual disclaimer: I'm not an expert at anything. :)

Under the circumstances, and considering everything you've tried, I think the hard drive is pretty much a goner. It would be real easy to suggest replacing it. But there's always a possibility (however slight) that other major components in your computer could also be damaged and might have even contributed in some way to the HD failure. Not saying that's the case but just something to consider if you're going to spend good money money for a new HD.

There are some products like SpinRite that can bring a hard drive back to life (I've used it and it worked great.) But these kinds of products are meant to able to retrieve data. Not to be a magic bullet to keep a HD spinning for a few more years. Eventually a drive will fail so bad that even SpinRite won't work. And it costs more than some 500GB internal HDs.

So having said all that I think it's time to replace your hard drive but to also have your machine thoroughly checked for any other problems. But that's just my personal opinion.