Cannot get past start up - 0xc00000e9

hello...this is where my nightmare begins. I turned on my pc, and it would not let me get past start up, saying
file :\Windows\system32\ntkrnlpa.exe
status : 0xc00000e9 Info:
Windows failed to load because the kernel is missing, or corrupt

I tried a few things, mostly the startup repair option that it would (recommend) to me next to the start windows normally option. this did absolutely NOTHING, and the problem continued. so I said ok, I give up, and decided to back up everything and completely reformat and reinstall windows....I did this, it installed successfully so I was happy....then the real nightmare started.....IT DIDNT FIX THE PROBLEM!!!!!!!!! I couldnt believe it...even after completely reformatting, I could not get past start up...the syste repair option still does nothing, even with the disc in...and im starting to lose all hope. tried reinstalling it a bunch of times....but now it wont even do that correct all the way through, keeps coming up with errors talking about files either missing or corrupt...so my pc is stuck in limbo...i wiiped partitions and tried again alot of times....but nothing...now it doesnt even recognize windows 7 as being installed at all.......SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!!! :'(

Hello Mike and welcome to Seven Forums. Sorry to hear you're having this problem.

Can you boot into Safe Mode? If yes, you might try running a System File Checker scan. If any problems are noted you should run the scan 3 times rebooting between each scan. (I'm not very optimistic about this correcting the problem because it sounds more like your installation media might be damaged or the hard drive is failing.) But we could start with this and then see what happens. Also, it would help if you posted your system specs and told us what kind of media you're using (OEM disk, full install disk, upgrade disk, etc.)

Safe Mode

SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

thanks I will try this and report back ASAP. thank you

I am using a HP a1730n computer, and a Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade 32 bit disk

ok just to let you know, when I boot from HDD it says BOOTMGR MISSING press ctrl+alt+del to restart...and thats all I can do...
the only way for me to access Command prompt is from the repair option on my disk. I remember trying the scannow thing and it came up with some crazy BS error message.... Im currently trying to install windows again so I will try what you say once its done FAILING AGAIN

Since you're using an upgrade disk take a look at this tutorial, particularly the warnings. There may be something that jumps out at you that you should have done but didn't, or didn't do that you should have done.

Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

at first glance none of these even seem applicable to me because for one, I never recall even seeing the "activate windows automatically when im online" button, nor do i ever get the chance to even activate anything at all, ever
I will post again once this install attempt is complete and keep you up to date on the situation. thank you so much for the help even if it doesnt lead to anything I truly appreciate it

failed again to no surprise....this time it got all the way to the update part then said it has been cancelled blah blah blah something about online locale then an error code...alot of times it will stop before that part talking about corrupted or missing files.
I will now try the scannow thing and report back

ok, so the only way I can possibly get to safe mode is with the cmd tool because running msconfig is obviously not an option, and I cannot get to advanced startup using F8 during boot. However...it doesnt look like safe mode is an option at all. because the steps you use to get to it with the cmd tool are to type bcdedit /enum in and a list of info is supposed to come up....well mine doesnt...it just says "The boot configuration data store could not be opened. The system cannot find the file specified"

and for the scan thing...i get to cmd prompt and type sfc /scannow and it says begining system scan. this process will take some time.

There is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. Restart Windows and run sfc again.

so I run it again, and the same thing pops up...

and as far as the advanced way to to that listed here SFC /SCANNOW : Run in Command Prompt at Boot ...I dont have any more luck

you see...at step 5 at that link my thing is completely blank!!!!!! there is no correct drive!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

:'(

This is definitely a puzzler.

Just out of curiosity, when you try to reformat/reinstall do you have any external devices plugged in like printer, external hard drive, etc? Sometimes those devices can interfere with a reinstall.

You could also see if any of these Microsoft help articles pertaining to your error code 0x00000e9 offer any additional thoughts.

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