c000021a when installing Windows Vista/7

My friend's computer is showing a very odd behaviour. When I start the install for windows Vista and 7, it'll load the installers, then give me a c000021a blue screen.

After I changed a bios from AHCI to Compatibility, the Windows 7 still blue screened. But for the Vista installation, the mouse appears for a second and the computer just shuts down.

Trying Windows XP installation gives the same result. It loads the installation files but when it comes to the install, it shuts down again.

Help?

 

Possibly bad memory? Lots of installation issues like this can be attributed to bad RAM.

 

New harddrive or old one?

This error occurs when your computer switches into kernal mode--when windows starts it first loads real mode drivers which are there until the kernal loads--something is happening to cause the user-mode login to no longer be secure.

Never seen it during an install, but have seen it with infections and old drives with norton goback

 

It can't be norton because the hard drive was formatted.

I've managed to install Ubuntu 9.10 onto her computer. So it doesn't seem like a HD problem. However, are there any CD based programs that works like chkdsk?

 

you can use the windows dvd with the windows PE

 

I can't. When the DVD is just about to boot, it blue screens and gives me the c000021a error. With the XP cd, right after it loads it shutsdown. I think it's a hardware error relating to the ram or the CD drive

 

You cannot use the XP cd because it doesn't have sata drivers built in and your drive is almost certainly a sata.

I realize that we are deadling with inadequate info. What kind of computer is this? It could very well be a basic incompatibility with Win 7. It may not be able to run it, or there may be a bios update needed to run it.

 

It is a toshiba Portege M800. Perfectly capable of running 7. The fact that I'm running Ubuntu perfectly fine on it shows it's not a ram or HD problem.

Could it be that the HD has a few sectors that still have windows vista bugs in it and when I reformatted the drive it didn't clean it completely?

 

What bios version?

 

Bios Version 1.10. A Phoenix one, I think.

 

First, don't think. Know.

Second, the Portege m800 comes in multiple versions, the m800 is the family, then there is the second half of the model number....you need to list the entire model.

The current bios for these models is 4.something.

Upgrading the bios might solve your issue, but you need to be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN YOU ARE INSTALLING THE RIGHT BIOS ON THE RIGHT MODEL OR YOU WILL BRICK YOUR COMPUTER

 

It's a Phoenix SucureCore Bios. The model is PPM81L-026003. I've found the bios for it. But I can't install it because the computer doesn't have windows. The hard drive is literally empty.

 

while it is possible to flash a wph file in dos, I think you are better off installing the original OS (XP?) and doing the flash, then installing Win7

 

I can't install Windows XP. After the installer loads the installer files, it automatically shutsdown. I've tried to do a DBAN on the hard drive, at at one stage while loading DBAN it said that this computer's CPU has reached 107degrees celcius, past the boiling point of water. So could it be that my friend's computer is overheating from loading the drivers and so shutsdown because it's too hot?

 

yeah, that could be the case, but again, seems unlikely. Could be a bad drive as someone else suggested. What happens when you load a Linux live CD?