Today I was away from my computer for awhile and upon my return, the screen was blue with the following detailed error message written across the screen:

A problem has been detected and windows had been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x0000007A (0xC03E1838, 0xC000000E, 0xF860E384, 0x08F88860)

*** atapi.sys - Address F860E384 base at F8601000, DateStamp 41107b4d

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance

.......................................................

That's the error message and I really don't know what to make of it. I've read a few things online explaining what Stop error messages and 0x7A messages are, but that's about as far as I can go. I don't know what I need to DO to resolve this problem. Is there a program I can download to fix it, or a step-by-step process I need to follow?

It's very odd because once the blue screen error message appears, I am able to restart my computer and then use it as usual for a random period of time of approximately 1 hour or so before the same blue screen error message re-appears.

I don't recall downloading or installing any new programs within the past few days, so I'm very confused as to why this happened all of a sudden and am really hoping that it can be resolved with some help from someone with a little more technical know-how. Please, any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Since the error is in the atapi.sys module, you might want to get some hard drive diagnostics to see if the drives or controllers are causing any errors.

Andy

Thank you for the prompt response. Perhaps this is naive of me, but how exactly do I go about "getting some hard drive diagnostics" to see if the drives or controllers are causing any errors? Do I need to download a program or run something already installed on my computer that I am unaware of? Additional help is appreciated in advance.

If your computer manufacturer has some system diagnostics they would be the best. Otherwise, follow this link and download the Drive Fitness Test. http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm You could also try the manufacturer for the hard drive that you have in your computer. They may have some hardware diagnostics as well.

Andy

It is most likely a hard drive problem, but it may be a different hardware problem also. "The Stop 0x7A message indicates that a page of kernel data was not found in the paging (virtual memory) file and could not be read into memory. This might be due to incompatible disk or controller drivers, firmware, or hardware."

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d...d_stp_fvlq.asp

The fact that this has cropped up and is persisting also suggests that you've developed a hardware problem. If the drive diagnostics test reports no problems, let us know please.

try getting into the recovery console by
1)by booting from a bootable winxp cd
2)let the system load up all the files needed
3)hit the key "R" when it give u an option of either selecting enter or "R" to get into the recovery console.
4)then it will ask u to select the windows u need to hit the no "1" key and then hit "enter"
5)then it will ask for admin password if u have any put in the password or else hit the "enter" twice.
6)then it will come to a window prompt type in "CHKDSK /R" without the quotes and hit enter then it will start running the process it will take around 50 -60 min.
and keep ur fingers crossed

one more thing also after "chkdsk /r" "run chkdsk /f" this should hopefully resolve it