Win7 Installer fails with BSOD & error code: STOP: ...

Dave76 said:

Nice find Adrian,

Can you post the Link for this?

Looks like a MS help or Knowledge base fix.

I'd like to be able to refer to this.

Cheers,

Error Message: Stop c000021a {Fatal System Error} The Session Manager Initialization System Process...

I sincerely hope I'm wrong, and all kudos to Adrian for the info, but in this instance I fear that procedure won't help. No reason not to try it though, especially given the OP presumably already has a parallel (XP) install to allow him to load the win7 registry hives and modify those values.

Bugcheck 0xC000021A means that one of the "critical" user-mode processes which the OS can't do without has terminated. Winlogon, CSRSS, and SMSS fall into that category. Because further operation without them is pointless (the OS cannot continue to provide basic services), if the kernel should detect the termination of such a process its response is that 0xC000021A BSOD. However, the kernel's own memory dumps are almost invariably devoid of the reason for the user-mode process crash. All that's visible in there is the fact that the kernel detected the demise of a critical user-mode process. (The KB article is technically misleading or even downright incorrect on that point.)

When a 0xC000021A crash is periodically occurring on multiple systems which otherwise run fine, it becomes worthwhile to attach a debugger in such a way as to get a user-mode dump from the crashing critical process before the kernel BSOD kicks in and obliterates the user-mode info.

In this instance, "debugging" is almost certainly pointless though. The machine is crashing during the OS install phase, and the cause will almost certainly be found in some very low-level incompatibility between the BIOS and the drivers included in the Windows install image. The only reason to seek the memory dump is to check whether it's really "vanilla".

Hi all,
OK will attempt to answer all questions:

- Trying to install Windows 7 32bit
- Started from within XP and selected CUSTOM
- No overclocking of anything
- Copied the files directly onto the C: drive of XP before doing the install also have tried having the files on one of the other hard drives.
- I have now used these install files on my wifes laptop and also another desktop and they install fine.
- YES ran the upgrade advisor
- Haven't tried removing any RAM yet

I did managed to get a successful install up briefly with one BSOD near the very start of the setup. It had booted fine a few times after completing setup and was able to load the NVIDIA drivers and then the Creative Audigy Driver. After a reboot it then started to BSOD again and then turn off. The logs mention something about:

ACPI thermal zone ACPI\ThermalZone\THRM has been enumerated
_PSV = 346k
_TC1 - 4

BSOD message today was: 0xC0000001 0x001003b8]

I will attempt to attach a memory dump file and also what minidump files I have

Adrian said:

H2, a caveat: his article was intended for NT OS.

No probs Adrian. For what it's worth, I think that's a great reference that you found.

KB articles are not always accurately updated with a list of the full range of OSs to which they apply. In this case, the procedure essentially says "C000021A is frequently caused by things interfering with pending operations, so, heck, you might as well test what happens when you deactivate the pending operation."

The info is still just as valid for Win7. I just fear it won't help in this instance because of the specific nature of the issue - 0xC000021A happens during the install phase, which is strongly suggestive of underlying hardware/BIOS incompatibilities. Of course, my pessimism shouldn't stop the OP from trying the procedure. It's hardly likley to make things any worse.

Dwarfboysim said:

BSOD message today was: 0xC0000001 0x001003b8]

I will attempt to attach a memory dump file and also what minidump files I have

A trifecta - one crash each for SMSS, CSRSS, and Winint.

Interestingly, the nature of the CSRSS crash allowed an exit status code to be recorded before the thing died: 0xC0000189. That translates to:

0: kd> !error C0000189
Error code: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000189 (3221225865) - A write operation was attempted to a volume after it was dismounted.

Since there are some updated nvidia drivers in there, I'm guessing that the particular dump corresponds to one of the installs where you managed to get a bit farther (far enough to update the video drivers), but it's entirely possible that the install phase crashes are all caused by the same thing.

The "dismounted volume" error could stem from myriad hardware/BIOS causes, but as a suggestion test what happens when you move the drive to a different SATA port/IDE channel, or even use a completely different drive.

The install that managed to finish did BSOD near the start gave the machine a reset and it continued on. The BSOD message was:

STOP: C000021a (Fatal System Error)

0x000000C0 [OxC0000001 0x00100410]

My DVD media that I also ordered from www.itsnotcheating.com.au has arrived today. Will be picking it up in the morning.

I am currently restoring a ghost image on the machine of my XP system as I have some work to do but will attempt to install Windows 7 again over the weekend.
Will try with the DVD and also try a different Hard Drive in the system and see how we go. Will keep you informed.
Collegue at work gets the above error as well and has the same mainboard but no matter how many resets his installer will not move on. If I can't fix this soon I am very tempted to just go out and buy a new CPU and mainboard but I do like a challenge as well. :)

Thanks,
Dwarfboysim

Hi everyone,
Thanks all for your advice and suggestions. Well it finally got the better of me and my work colleague. I did some more testing but did not have the time to spend on it anymore as I need my computer to do some real work. Anyhow someone gave me another Motherboard and CPU and I can now install Windows 7 without any BSOD and it's running like a dream. Thanks all for your advice and tips. All I can say now is. If you have a LANPARTY 925x-T2 board stay with XP the stress is not worth it.

Thanks,
Dwarfboysim