Windows 7: Windows 7, winload 0x00000e9 I/O error

file: windows/system32/winload.exe
code: 0x00000e9
info: an unexpected I/O error has occured.




This comes up after a fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate. I have done plenty of research but I cannot find anything about this error. Can someone please help?

At what point do you get the error message? For example, does Windows boot successfully but show that in Event Viewer?

Right after the POST but before Windows will load. I had just reinstall Windows 7 Ultimate and this pops up. It says press "Enter" to continue and I do, and it takes me to what operating system I want to load and I press "Windows 7" and it just goes back to the error screen, and when I press F8 for advanced options it reloads back to the Error screen.

Entering your My System Specs in your SevenForums user profile would be very helpful here.

Do you have more than one hard drive installed? If so it is best to disconnect all extra drives and any external devices before installing Windows 7.

But if this behavior started immediately after installing Windows 7 then I would think that it would be faster and easier just to run the installation again.

If you can describe your partition setup on the main OS hard drive that would help too. Are you using the System Reserved partition - are there multiple partitions - etc.

Were you attempting a "Clean Install" or an "Upgrade Install"? If upgrade, what was the old OS?

I am currently out of town, so I can't do the system specs, but I will be home at about 5 pm Central Time, I do know that the video card is Nvidia and currently has 128 MB and the system memory has 1536MB, There is 1 hard drive and 2 partitions, 1 is the operating system and the 2nd one is the System Reserve 100 MB that windows automatically sets up before installing the operating system and I did a Clean Install.

Does this help things out a little?

Yes it rules out some of the issues caused by multiple hard drives.

It could be something as simple as a bad install. It happens.
But you could benefit from wiping the hard drive (or a simple reformat of both partitions) before starting the clean install. That will eliminate the possibility that some part of the old system is being left over.

See here: SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation
Do the above procedure using your Windows 7 installation DVD. Just choose the "Repair My Computer" option when the DVD boots and the start Diskpart from the "Command Prompt" option there.

And Here: Secure Erase / Wipe : Definition and Methods

Couple of other things you can try.

1) Run the hdd diagnostic tool for your brand hdd to check for errors.

2) Check the hashes of the Windows 7 iso if this is a home made disk.

Ok. I will try these when I get back to town and I will keep you inform on the updates. Out of curiosity though, what exactly does the 0x00000e9 error mean? can someone give me more information?

That error code usually means the hard drive is not getting detected by the operating system or is due to a failing hard drive.

So you could run a hard drive diagnostic program as Bill2 suggested - one downloaded from the hard drive manufacturer that boots from a CD - to test the drive if you want.

Or if you can, run a CHKDSK /R test from a command prompt, to check the drive with Windows.

Or you could just clean and format the drive fresh using Diskpart. If the drive were actually failing you would find out soon enough during this process.

And, as Bill2 pointed out, you can get that error if your install DVD is no good.

Ok, I made it home, and I do know that though this is a custom built computer, The motherboard is a Emachine.

*The system specs i retrieved from the BIOS since the computer is custom built and does not have documentation of any of the parts.
System Specs:
Intel Celeron CPU 450 @ 2.20GHz
Processor Speed: 2.20GHz
System memory: 1536 MB

Primary IDE Master
Device: Hard Disk
Vendor: ST3100011A
Size: 100 GB
LBA: Supported
Block Mode: 16 Sectors
PIO Mode: 4
Async DMA: MultiWord DMA-2
Ultra DMA: Ultra DMA-2
S.M.A.R.T: Supported

AHCI Port4
Device: ATAPI CDROM
Vendor: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH41N


During Boot up after the "e" comes up it pops to this:

Video-338PCI VGA BIOS
Version 5.44.A2.14.2E
Copyright (C) 1996-2005 NVIDIA Corp.
128 MB


After that screen it goes to the following:

Windows has encountered a problem communicating with a device conneccted to your computer.

This error can be caused by unplugging a removable storage device such as an external USB drive while the device is in use, or by faulty hardware such as a hard drive or CD-ROM drive that is failing. Make sure any removable storage is properly connected and then restart your computer.

If you continue to receive this error message, contact th hardware manufacturer.
File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Status: 0xc00000e9
Info: An unexpected I/O error has occured.

I press "Enter" to continue and I choose "Windows 7" and takes me back to the error screen.

Also the same thing when I press the F8 key for advanced options.



I so hope this information helps alot. I will try the following things above and will let you know the status.