Blue screen of death error codes 0x0000007b windows xp

07.09.2023 -

Despite the fact that more than three years have passed since Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP, some users still do not want to part with this operating system. Well, this is understandable - some still have an old computer, the technical characteristics of which do not allow installing a newer OS, some need a fast system, while others are simply used to XP, not wanting to change anything for themselves.

Windows is a fairly stable and reliable system that can work without reinstallation for up to several years, but sooner or later it begins to fail, including critical ones. An example of one such failure is the Stop 0x0000007b error, which occurs during the loading/installation of the operating system and is accompanied by the appearance of the traditional blue screen of death. Most often, Windows XP users have to deal with it, however, owners of computers running Windows 7 are not immune from it.

The main reasons for the appearance of a blue screen with Stop error 0x0000007b

Error 0x0000007b, like a number of other similar ones, does not indicate a specific source of the problem, and the code itself may indicate various types of problems. In some cases it is accompanied by a message INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE, which immediately makes the user suspect that the hard drive is faulty. In fact, this error only means that the boot driver cannot initialize the boot device, that is, the hard drive.

The appearance of a blue screen with error 0x0000007b is often caused by a conflict of drivers of devices connected to the PC, incorrect BIOS settings, damage to system files or important registry keys, virus infection, the presence of bad sectors and file system errors on the disk, various hardware problems (most often associated with disk), problems with RAM, lack of support for the SCSI controller or hard drive installed by the operating system. We will not analyze all cases in detail; instead, we will pay attention to the most common ones.

What to do if an error occurs when installing Windows XP

The main and most likely cause of error 0x0000007b when installing Windows XP on a new PC is incompatible BIOS settings. The fact is that on new computers, the ACHI standard is used for drives connected to SATA, which was not yet used at the time of the release of Windows XP. You try to install the system, but it can't find a suitable driver and throws you into a BSOD. What to do? Try changing the operating mode of SATA drives from AHCI to IDE.

Go to the BIOS, in the Advanced section find the IDE Configuration setting, in it find the SATA Configuration parameter and set it to Compatible instead of Enhanced. In other BIOS versions, the indicated setting may be located in the Integrated Peripherals section and called OnChip SATA Type or SATA RAID/AHCI MODE. Its value needs to be set IDE or Native IDE.

If your BIOS has a Main section, look for SATA Mode in it and set it to IDE Mode.

Loading drivers during XP installation

The next way to resolve the error is to install the missing SCSI or ACHI drivers during the installation of Windows XP, but for this you must already have a floppy disk with drivers that match the configuration of your PC. At the very beginning of the XP installation you need to click F6 to install a special SCSI or RAID driver.

But since this method is hopelessly outdated, there may not be a utility for writing drivers on a disk with Windows XP, just like a floppy drive in your computer. Alternatively, you can use a USB Floppy Drive, but purchasing this device for the sake of installing an outdated system seems impractical.

Integrating SATA AHCI drivers into a Windows XP image

If you consider yourself an advanced user, you can integrate SATA AHCI drivers directly into the Windows XP installation image. For these purposes you will need a utility nLite, original SATA drivers with AHCI support for text mode (downloaded from your motherboard manufacturer’s website) and the Windows XP image itself.

The algorithm of actions is as follows. Unpack the driver archives and the XP ISO image into separate folders.

In the next window, click “Add” and specify the path to the folder with drivers.

Then activate the “Text mode driver” radio button, check the drivers you need and click “OK”, after which the boot image will be recreated.

If error 0x0000007b during system installation was due to driver incompatibility, it will not occur this time.

The method works, but why fool yourself if it is much easier to find on the Internet an image of Windows XP with already integrated AHCI drivers; fortunately, there are more than enough such assemblies created by enthusiasts!

How to fix error 0x0000007b when booting Windows 7

As with XP, incorrect BIOS settings can cause error 0x0000007b to appear when loading Windows 7. The system crash into BSOD with code 0x0000007b was often observed after the user enabled AHCI mode in the BIOS, especially in cases where an SSD drive was installed on the PC. No one argues that AHCI mode has its advantages, but in Windows 7 simply enabling it in the BIOS is not enough; before that, the system must be prepared. Therefore, we restore the previous settings in the BIOS, boot, launch the registry editor with the regedit command and expand this branch:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/services/msahci

On the right side we find the parameter Start and change its value to 0.

We do the same with the Start parameter in the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/services/iaStorV.

After that, go to the BIOS and enable AHCI. This time the system should boot without error. The next time you reboot the system, the appropriate disk drivers will be installed. At the same time, we also recommend opening Device Manager and checking in the disk properties whether disk write caching is enabled.

Other causes of error 0x0000007b

The following reasons for error 0x0000007b, as well as ways to fix it, are equally applicable to both Windows 7 and Windows XP. If before this the system booted normally, but after updating or installing some driver during the next boot, Windows displayed error 0x0000007b, the reason is probably that the driver is not working properly. First, try booting into the last known known configuration by holding down the key right after turning on the PC. F8 and select the appropriate option.

You can also try booting into safe mode and uninstalling the installed software. If this does not help, you should roll back to a previous restore point if booting into Safe Mode is available. In Windows 7, everything is simpler; in this system, you can roll back to a control or full backup copy by booting from the installation disk with the distribution kit.

Disk errors

File system errors and bad sectors can also cause error 0x0000007b. This is where the built-in utility can come to the rescue. chkdsk. Boot the PC from the installation disk (the same XP) by clicking R enter the recovery environment and run the command chkdsk /r.

In Windows 7, the same command is used, but with the /f switch.

If the disk is old and there have been problems with it before, it is recommended that you first connect it to a work computer.

Viruses in the boot sector

It also wouldn't hurt to check the disk for infection with bootkits - viruses that infect the boot sector and MBR record. Naturally, such a check should be done using bootable rescue disks like Dr.Web Сureit. Another option is to remove the disk, connect it to a working PC and run the test from there.

Hardware problems

A blue screen with error 0x0000007b may well be caused by hardware problems. If the problem really is in the hardware, then first of all you need to check the hard drive. The cables (are they connected well) and the power supply are also subject to inspection. Be sure to test your RAM, as there have been cases where error 0x0000007b occurred when RAM modules were damaged.

As additional measures, we can recommend disconnecting all peripheral devices from the PC (to avoid conflicts with their drivers), re-creating the MBR master boot record, updating the hard drive controller drivers, clearing the CMOS, and also replacing the atapi.sys, intelide driver files from under the boot disk .sys, pciide.sys, pciidex.sys from the directory System32/Drivers driver files from a working system of the same version. If you doubt the results of your own actions, it would be wiser to take your computer to a diagnostic center, where specialists will fix the problem.

Errors that appear on the monitor screen very often drive many users into panic. But most of them are quite easy to fix if you understand the cause of their occurrence and methods of combating them. It is for this purpose that Microsoft has assigned each issue its own name so as not to confuse them with each other.

Today, many people use the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, which is especially popular on weak or office machines that do not require newer versions of this product to work. It is while using this OS that you can encounter the stop 0x0000007b error, which appears before your eyes in the form of a blue screen.

Do not panic ahead of time - this problem can be corrected on your own. So, how to get rid of bsod 0x0000007b?

Causes

Usually this trouble manifests itself in two cases:

Error 0x0000007b when installing Windows XP.

A similar problem occurs when starting the operating system.

If error 0x0000007b Windows XP occurs when trying to install the system, then there are several possible reasons for this:

BIOS conflict due to incorrect user settings.

Device drivers that the operating system requires to install correctly have become corrupted.

There is a conflict between the system being installed and the hard drive.

A blue screen appears in the second case if:

The computer was simply attacked and infected with virus programs.

Winchester is damaged

Conflict situations arise with some additional devices connected to the computer.

The operating system files are damaged.

Now let's look at the technique of how to fix this error.

Fixing an error when loading the operating system

If an error occurs when loading the system, then you should perform several procedures to resolve it:

When loading the OS, press the F8 key and try to load the last known known configuration. If this does not help, move on.
We solve the problem with damage to the file system and hard drive. Another external media with the system is required, through which Win XP is loaded. Next is the system recovery console, where you need to enter the command “chkdsk /p /r”. All other checking and correction will take place automatically.
If the first two options did not help, then you should check your computer for viruses that could have entered it, for example, when launching a game from the Internet, downloading any files from an unverified media, and so on.
The last step is to disconnect all externally connected devices before booting the system - additional hard drives, flash drives, and so on.

There is a high probability that one of the proposed options will help cope with the problem. If this does not happen, a complete reinstallation of the OS is required.

Installation error fix

The greatest panic is caused by such an error when launching the application responsible for installing the system. How to fix it, since most of the tools are not available to the user at this moment? However, there are ways to fight it.

First of all, you will need to restart your computer and go to the Bios menu. It proceeds this way:

Go to the tab called “Advanced”.
Select the “onChip SATA TYPE” menu.
We change the usage icon from AHCI to NATIVE IDE.

On some computers, the BIOS menu has a slightly different appearance, however, the user actions are completely identical - you should look for the name “SATA” everywhere, then change the AHCI position to another option.

Another reason for this problem is the lack of necessary drivers on the boot disk. There is an option to search for them yourself and add them to the image. But this is a rather long procedure - it is always easier to find a high-quality assembly of the required operating system and install it from there.

Installing Windows XP on modern hardware often poses some problems. During installation, various errors and even BSODs (blue screens of death) appear. This is due to the old operating system being incompatible with the hardware or its features. One of these errors is BSOD 0x0000007b.

A blue screen with this code may be caused by the lack of a built-in AHCI SATA controller driver, which allows you to use various functions for modern drives, including. If your motherboard uses this mode, then Windows XP will not be able to install. Let's look at two methods for eliminating the error and look at two separate special cases with Intel and AMD chipsets.

Method 1: BIOS setup

Most motherboards have two operating modes for SATA drives – AHCI and IDE. For a normal installation of Windows XP, you must enable the second mode. This is done in the BIOS. You can enter the motherboard settings by pressing the key several times DELETE at boot (AMI) or F8(Award). In your case, it may be a different key; you can find out by reading the manual for the motherboard.

The parameter we need is mainly located on the tab with the name "Main" and is called "SATA Configuration". Here you need to change the value from "AHCI" on "IDE", press F10 to save the settings and reboot the machine.

After these steps, Windows XP will most likely install normally.

Method 2: Adding AHCI drivers to the distribution

If the first option does not work or there is no option to switch SATA modes in the BIOS settings, you will have to manually integrate the necessary driver into the XP distribution. To do this, we will use the nLite program.

Go to the official website of the program and download the installer. We download exactly the one highlighted in the screenshot, it is intended for XP distributions.

If you are going to integrate, working directly in Windows XP, then you must also install 2.0 from the official website of the developer. Pay attention to the bit depth of your OS.
Installing the program will not cause any difficulties even for a beginner, just follow the Wizard’s prompts.
Next, we will need a compatible driver package, for which we need to find out which chipset is installed on our motherboard. This can be done using the program. Here in the section "Motherboard", on the tab "Chipset" the necessary information is found.
Now let's go to the page that contains packages that are perfect for integration using nLite. On this page we select the manufacturer of our chipset.

Download the package.
The archive that we received during downloading must be unpacked into a separate folder. In this folder we see another archive, files from which also need to be extracted.
Next, you need to copy all the files from the installation disk or image to another folder (new).
Preparation is complete, launch the nLite program, select the language and click "Further".
In the next window click "Review" and select the folder into which you copied files from the disk.
The program will check and we will see data about the operating system, after which we click "Further".
We simply skip the next window.
The next step is to select tasks. We need to integrate the drivers and create a boot image. Click on the corresponding buttons.
In the driver selection window, click "Add".
Select an item "Drivers folder".
Select the folder into which we unpacked the downloaded archive.
We select the driver version of the required bit depth (for the system we are going to install).
In the driver integration settings window, select all the items (click on the first one, hold down SHIFT and click on the last one). We do this in order to be sure that the required driver is present in the distribution.
In the next window, click "Further".
We are starting the integration process.
Choosing a mode "Create image", click "Create ISO", select the place where you want to save the created image, give it a name and click "Save".
The image is ready, exit the program.

The resulting file in ISO format must be written to a USB flash drive and you can install Windows XP.

Above we looked at the option with the Intel chipset. For AMD the process is slightly different.

Conclusion

We have discussed two ways to resolve error 0x0000007b when installing Windows XP. The second one may seem complicated, but using these steps you can create your own distributions for installation on different hardware.

Fortunately, given how annoying the blue screen of death can be for some users, error 0x0000007B is not that dangerous, and at the same time it is very common among users. However, sometimes you will have to tinker before you can eliminate it, because there can be several reasons for this error.

So, error 0x0000007B indicates that the Windows operating system lost access to the system partition during startup. However, various necessary solutions to this problem are indicated in the BSOD itself. Of course, for ordinary users this information is often useless due to its brevity. Therefore, let’s look at ways to solve error 0x0000007B in more detail.

1. , and during reboot, press F8 (you must press this key before the “” window appears.” To do this, when the PC starts booting, quickly press F8 several times, so to speak, for sure) and select “ Loading Last Known Good Configuration».

2. Use an antivirus or to scan your computer, namely, you need to check the Main Boot Area of the hard drive first, since this is where viruses may be located. Malicious files that end up in the boot sector are often the reason why the system displays error 0x0000007B. This solution is relevant for cases where the problem occurs periodically, and does not occur every time instead of booting the system.

3. Run the system utility to check the disk for damage. To do this, go to " My computer", right-click on " Local drive C", select " Properties", go to the tab " Service" and press " Run check" In chapter " Disk check».

In the window that opens, make sure both checkboxes are checked and click “ Launch" If you receive this error

then restart your computer, after which the disk check will begin automatically. In this case, the check will be carried out before the system starts, so there is no need to worry if you see a screen similar to BSOD.

In case Windows cannot boot, then you will need to use (which you, of course, should always have ready). To boot from it, you need to set boot from a USB device in the BIOS settings (there is no single instruction for settings in the BIOS, so when you start your PC, press F12 or Del and look for the parameter Boot Device Priority or First Boot Device, where choose your flash drive). When booting via LiveCD, select " System Recovery Options" and use the item " Command line».

Write in it “ chkdsk c: /f /r" (without quotes), where " c:" - your drive letter, " /f" is a command for automatically correcting detected errors, and " /r"- search for bad sectors and restore them, does not work without "/f". After completing the check, try restarting the computer by removing the boot from the flash drive.

4. If you have recently connected various hardware to your computer, such as controllers or hard drives, then remove them and try to boot. If the system does not start because of a new hard drive, then perhaps the incompatibility of the Windows version with the firmware of the disk is to blame. If other devices are to blame, then it is probably due to an I/O or IRQ port conflict.

5. If a stop error occurs after installing the driver for the hard drive, then it is incompatible with the Windows version.

6. If you have just installed Windows 7 and have already received this error, then the problem lies in the fact that Windows has not yet learned to switch from one driver to another freely. That is, when the SATA mode for the boot disk is changed and the disk driver is disabled, then Windows boot will be stopped abnormally with error code 0x0000007B. In this case, you need to do the following. Press on keyboard Win+R, in the window that opens, write “ regedit" (without quotes), follow the path " HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci", double-click on the parameter Start and in the section " Meaning" instead of " 3 " put " 0 ».

We hope that this instruction will help you deal with error 0x0000007B.

In the course of their work, many PC users encounter various types of errors in the Windows OS. Some of them make work impossible, constantly appearing on the screen when you launch various games or applications, while others appear only when loading or installing Windows, preventing the operating system from working at all.

In this article we will analyze one of these errors - stop 0x0000007b, which users most often encounter.

In newer versions of the operating system, this code replaces the special “inaccessible boot device” message, but in essence, all methods for fixing the failure are identical to each other.

Reasons for appearance

Blue screen code 0x0000007b occurs when Windows fails to access the system partition.

In turn, this may indicate the following problems:

Incorrectly set HDD operating mode.
Incorrect settings
The hard drive or file system is faulty.
Important system files are missing.
Incompatible drivers are installed.
Flipped boot sector.
Presence of malware and viruses.
Game or application crashes.

I propose to examine each point in order in more detail.

Single failure. In most cases, the problem is temporary and can be resolved by simply restarting the computer.

Rollback to working state. If this does not help, then you should boot using the latest configuration. To do this, when turning on the PC, start pressing the “F8” or “F3” key until a black screen appears with various startup types.

Using the arrows, select the boot item with the last known good configuration and press “Enter”. The method is somewhat similar to system recovery. It will roll back to the last working state.

Most likely this will help fix error 0x0000007b.

Safe mode as a diagnostic method

Using this mode, you can identify the cause of the failure. If you manage to boot Windows in safe mode, then this will indicate a problem on the side of the software of secondary devices, system errors or viruses.

And this is how to run it:

To do this, it is advisable to have a special boot disk or flash drive with an antivirus program. The most popular of them are LiveDisk from Dr.Web And Rescue Disс from Kaspersky.

HDD operating mode

If the stop error 0x0000007b occurs when installing Windows XP or 7, then most likely the problem is the operating mode of the hard drive.

How to change it:

If this was the problem, then the blue screen will no longer appear.

Enabling AHCI

As I said above, the reason for the appearance of BSOD 0x0000007b when loading Windows 7 may be that AHCI is enabled. Undoubtedly, this mode has quite good advantages and is more suitable for working with an SSD drive.

However, it is not enough to simply enable it in the BIOS; you also need to prepare Windows to work with it:

Everything should work now

Reset

If before BSOD 0x0000007b appeared, you connected additional equipment or changed BIOS settings. In this case, it is better to reset to default values, having first disconnected all third-party equipment and devices.

You can perform a reset in the following ways.

First way:

Second method (perform with the computer turned off):

If there is no jumper, as usually happens with cut-down budget motherboards, then just remove the BIOS battery for 30 minutes, then install it back.

Checking HDD and file system

It is possible that the failure occurs due to problems on the hard drive side, especially when BSOD code 0x0000007b appears when loading Windows. This point should be checked separately.

So, what can disrupt the operation of the hard drive:

The SATA cable may not be tightly connected to the HDD. Check this moment.
Damaged SATA cable. In this case, it needs to be replaced.
Presence of inaccessible sectors “bad blocks” or other errors. You can check using . If Windows does not boot, then the check should be performed after booting from any LiveCD. Another option is to use the Victoria MS-DOS or .
If (humming, tapping, clicking, etc.), then it is obvious that the problem is on the side of faulty internal mechanics. There is nothing that can be done here, you need to replace it.

We check the file system. If the operating system boots in safe mode, then it is enough to run the command - chkdsk E: /F /R. Where the letter “E” denotes the partition with the OS installed. If yours is different, then enter the corresponding letter.

If stop code 0x0000007b occurs when loading Windows 7 or XP, then our actions will be a little more complicated:

I will show all subsequent steps using the example of Windows 7:

It also doesn’t hurt to scan important files with the command – sfc /scannow.

We boot in normal mode and check the result.

Driver incompatibility

It is not uncommon for newly installed drivers to cause a blue screen, especially for drivers on an HDD or SSD.

If you actually installed or updated any software, then to solve the incompatibility problem you need to remove it:

Sometimes, on the contrary, an update can help.

Be careful when downloading any software, paying special attention to its compatibility with your operating system and equipment.

Boot sector recovery

Blue screen 0x0000007b may appear due to a corrupted boot area "MBR". Which could well have been lost as a result of malware, a sudden PC shutdown, or system errors. In this case, it must be restored.

Instructions for PC Windows 7:

Once everything is done, you can close the command window and reboot.

Installed games or applications

Also, the stop error 0x0000007b is observed only when launching a specific application or game. In turn, this can indicate a variety of problems, but most often you can get rid of it by reinstalling the video card driver, reinstalling the game and then running it with administrator rights, or installing the latest version of DirectX, Net Framework and the Visual C++ library.

Other reasons

Don't forget about things like the motherboard or RAM. In this case, these are the components that should be checked as a last resort, when nothing else has helped get rid of the blue screen.

For example, there can be absolutely any fault on the motherboard side, including a damaged SATA connector. RAM may have errors; you can check it using the built-in memory check utility in Windows 10, 8 or.

In more rare cases, the problem is more technical in nature, which only an experienced technician can solve.