/me pushes power button:

Blue Screen of Death! x_x

STOP: c0000221 Unkown Hard Error
\SystemRoot\System32\ntdll.dll

Its an older laptop running xp...nothing new's been done to it in months, its not used for connecting to the internet at all...

When I try to boot from the XP cd it says it can't boot from the cd and gives me these options:

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Last Known Good Configuration
Start Windows Normally

All of these options bring me back the the BSOD...
So...I could use a little help...I'd like to keep the info on it in tact, but that's not necessarily a must.

Thanks in advance.

1. Boot from XP CDROM.
2. Run REPAIR option.

or

1. Boot safe mode,

2. Copy intact ntdll.dll from CAB.

3. Cross fingers as you reboot this fixes it and nothing else is broken, else

4. Repeat until solved.

HTH,

J.

CDBOOT: Cannot boot from cd - Code 5

?? This message comes up for a second before giving me the options in the above post...all of which lead to the back to the BSOD..

does your computer start at all? from your message i assume you get blue screen after you turn on the power and are trying to repair the installation by booting from the xp cd.
it's possible that the cd itself is damaged. i would try booting from it on another machine.

the solution from the ms data base(http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314474) is to replace the corrupted file or reload the os. both options are difficult if you can't start the computer or boot from the cd.

is there a zip drive on the same cable as the hard drive?

if your cd is good and you still can't start up i would say you need to start trouble shooting hardware problems.

No, it doesn't start at all >_< My friend thinks the HD is fried...
The CD itself is fine.
No zip drives at all.
I think I'm fawked, eh?

Yep. Bad sectors on the hard drive can make it impossible to read the files contained within, thus the messages refering to those "missing" or "corrupt" files is bogus. If possible, remove the CD-ROM from the laptop and then try and start it up. If it boots, then there may be a short or open in the CD-ROM electronics, causing those CDBOOT errors.
Additionally, if I were you, I would remove all hardware not necessary for booting up, CD-ROM and floppy drive, PCMCIA cards, etc.

Take your error messages to the MS knowledge base website to find out what MS says they refer to.

okay- Thanks everybody! ^_^