Solved Stop Code: c000021a {Fatal System Error}

guapo June 9, 2013 at 19:01:00

If you know what HD is in the machine, you can try the manufacturer's tools. Download them & burn them to a CD. Boot the machine with the CD. If it's a seagate drive, their tools are worthless. How do you know when a politician is lying? His mouth is moving.

riider June 10, 2013 at 05:22:37

✔ Best Answer

"I did a Primary Hard Disk Self Test in BIOS with a result of Fail #1 - 07" Apparently the hard drive is failing or has failed. Hopefully you have backup copies of all your important files. If you know the make of your drive, download & run the manufacturer's diagnostics program to confirm. "I do not have a recovery disk or a Windows Vista disc" The files needed to create the Recovery disc are on the HDD. The disc should have been created a LONG time ago when you 1st got the laptop. It looks like there are dozens of laptops in the F500 series: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...

The laptop is a Compaq Presario 572US. Sorry, I forgot to mention that this is not my computer so I am quite sure that no backup discs were created. I am not able to find a brand name for the HDD. There is a sticker over where it might be that says "Replace with HP Spare 442881-001, 7F0774." I am unable to run any specific companies diagnostics program without knowing which one to use. (Stated more clarity than being necessarily important to do so). There is a partition, supposedly the D: that is for recovery/reinstall but I was trying to avoid use it without trying to save the information on the HDD.

guapo June 10, 2013 at 19:40:17

Open the machine & look at the HD. How do you know when a politician is lying? His mouth is moving.

Thank you for all your assistance. I finally got to the point that I did the full restore to factory settings and it seemed to work well so far. Everything is loading without issue and the HDD appears to be working without issue.