System service exception BSOD playing Starcraft 2

Arc said:

Hi JTMoney66.

I am sorry that I am asking, probably you have provided the info earlier but I am missing it, but are you getting stop 0x6B during windows installation?

No problem, I already have Windows installed, but I am getting the stop error when trying to load into Windows (right after the Windows starting screen and before the login screen)

Arc said:

And, hopefully you are attempting to install windows on the 120 GB Corsair Force GT, as it was?

Correct it should be installed on that drive. However, I have a new drive that I would like to reinstall Windows on, so that I don't have to lose all my files from the 120GB drive.

Arc said:

If the aboves are right, then ......

1. Boot into the BIOS. Check it thoroughly ... wherever it is UEFI, set it to Legacy in the BIOS. Then attempt another clean reinstall. Does it still fail?

I did not see anything anywhere labeled UEFI or Legacy except on my bootable USB drive but I am not booting it as UEFI, I select the basic option. I checked the whole BIOS. It is version 1604 for the Sabertooth 990FX MB.

Arc said:

2. Open the computer. Check the cablings. If possible, apply new SATA cables. Then attempt the installation again.

I just received new SATA cables (with my new drive) and I'll be replacing all of them.

Arc said:

3. If it still fails, attempt to install windows on any other HDD or SSD.

Let us know at this point.

I think I will just install Windows on my new SSD (it is 250GB) if the new cables don't fix the problem right away.

Ok, I replaced the SATA cables, installed the 250GB drive and temporarily disconnected the 90GB drive. I restarted and tried to boot from the 120GB drive and now it says BOOTMGR is missing, press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart.

The 120GB drive is set as first in the boot order in the BIOS. I also tried pressing F8 at startup and selecting it from the boot menu there. I checked and all the new SATA cables are secure and the power cable is secure. According to the motherboard, they are connected to the correct SATA3 ports.

I checked diskpart and it showed my 120GB drive and my oldest drive (a HDD) in the system both have 0 bytes of free space which should not be true. However, it showed the new 250GB drive as having 232GB of free space. Those are the 3 drives currently connected since my 90GB drive is disconnected.

A quick background of the timeline of my Windows installations is as follows:

originally had Windows Vista on my HDD --> upgraded to Win7 on 90GB SSD --> reinstalled Win7 on 120GB SSD (for more space). The old Windows installations were supposedly cleaned up and I remember using system cleanup to remove the old Windows installation to clear up some disk space.

Hi Arc, I have not tried a clean reinstall yet. I only used my bootable USB Win7 install to try and run startup repair.

I will try the partition wizard and get back to you with a screenshot. Sorry if I missed this in the previous instructions.

I would prefer not to do a clean reinstall on the 120GB drive because it has several files I need, and it would be a hassle to copy them all via command prompt to a backup. I don't mind going ahead and doing a clean install on the 250GB drive, especially if that has a higher chance of success.

Arc said:

So it is not the boot failure caused by UEFI and MBR mismatch. Nice.

It is also nice that you have changed the SATA cables. (all of them hopefully?)

Yes, I only have 3 new SATA cables so that is why I disconnected the 90GB drive, so that the remaining drives that are connected would have new SATA cables (the 120GB SSD, the 250GB SSD, and the ~400GB HDD).

Arc said:

Now follow post #75 by essenbe and do one more thing:

Do you have access to another computer right now? If so, download Partition wizard Bootable CD (the last one in the link). Burn it in a blank CD or in a USB flash stick.

Boot into Partition Wizards GUI following this instructions. When you are on the last screen, take a camera snap of the screen and upload the snap here.
Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

We need to see the partitions and parameters.

We need this.

I will get on this asap and post the results. I do have access to my laptop, but it is Windows 8. Hopefully that won't be a problem.

Arc said:

Two major possibilities are still remained. The first one is a missing boot file (generally caused by two causes, either the MBR is corrupt or the right partition on the first boot disk is not marked as active; the above will tell about it.

I don't know about the MBR being corrupt (I guess that is a possibility). To the 2nd possibility: I actually already tried marking the partition on the boot disk as active in diskpart, and got the same BSOD stop 0x06B. Perhaps it was not the right partition, however.

Arc said:

On another way: You tried to perform a clean reinstall as it seemed. So that should wipe the boot files up. In that case, disconnect all the other discs than the 120 GB SSD (SATA and USB; must in this case), perform a clean reinstall, when done, add the other discs back.

If still the clean reinstall does not end without a BSOD, unfortunately (as for the second possibility of the origin of the issue, a corrupt/bad disc) you will need to install windows on any other disc.

I will go ahead and disconnect all the SATA cables from other drives besides the 120GB SSD.

Arc said:

If the attempt to install windows on the SSD (with all the other discs disconnected) fails again, then you will need to install windows on that one, because this failing attempt will confirm the biggest cause of a stop 0x6B, a failing disc.

I would be a bit shocked if the disc was failing but obviously I can't rule it out yet. It gets significant (filtered) air flow so heat shouldn't be an issue, it is only ~2 years old and it's an SSD which I wouldn't expect to fail so quickly. And I periodically use compressed air to remove dust buildup in my case. Additionally, in the command prompt I can access and cd to the 120GB drive's directories and view all of the files. So from that I assumed the drive was ok, it just couldn't boot.