What is the "Stop 0x0000007b" or "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE" error?
Stop 0x0000007b is a blue screen error that occurs when there is a problem with the mass storage controller or the Integrated Device Electronics of the system. The IDE controllers on the motherboard produced by any of the chipset makers have unique Plug-n-Play identifiers (PnP-Id). If this information is lost by the operating system then the blue screen of death appears when you start your system.
Operating Systems affected are:
- Win XP (Home and Professional), Win XP 64 bit
- Win 2003 Enterprise and Data centre editions.
Why am I getting the ?STOP 0x0000007b? error and how can I solve this blue screen problem?
The error message you?ll most likely receive is:
?STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF741B84C, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000?
?INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE?
These errors can occur due to several reasons. The common ones are listed below:
- Device Driver Problem
- Hardware Problem
- Boot Sector Virus Problem
- Boot Volume Problems
Here is how you can deal with each one of these:
Device Driver Problem: A device driver is a software interface between the device and the operating system. The operating system (OS) uses the driver to recognize the SCSI or the ATA controllers installed on the system and are often referred to as miniport drivers.
The driver for the SCSI or ATI has to be installed first for the hard drive to be recognized. If this driver gets corrupted the STOP error is generated.
To solve this problem you can reinstall the driver using the Windows CD. You can boot from the Windows CD and Press F6 key when the system prompts at the bottom of the screen. This helps in installing third party SCSI and ATA drivers. If the driver is not listed in the Windows CD, then you will have to contact the manufacturer for the driver.
Hardware Problem: The Stop error 0x0000007B can also occur when the hardware has conflicts with other similar controllers. Usually, the SCSI driver should have proper termination and all SCSI device IDs should be unique.
The problem also occurs when SCSI controllers are changed and the unused SCSI drives are not removed. An IRQ conflict with a newly installed device can also generate this error. Removing the newly added hardware, restarting the system and reinstalling the new hardware can solve the problem.
The STOP error can also occur when the hard drive fails. This is when the OS fails to recognize the hard disk on the system. Running the diagnostics on the hard drive can help detect the faulty drive.
Boot Sector Virus: Boot sector viruses are malicious software that get installed in the Master Boot Record (MBR) and reconfigure the partition tables as per their needs. This can completely mess up the partition information in the OS because it cannot read the exact details. This triggers the STOP error 0x0000007B.
To solve this problem, download a good antivirus that can scan the hard disk and also remove the virus.
Boot Volume Errors: Boot volume errors can generate blue screen of death. The sector on the hard disk from where the operating system retrieves the information about the size of the hard disk and partition tables gets corrupted.
To solve this issue, boot from the Windows CD, select R at the Welcome to Setup screen, and then provide the required authentication details to start the Recovery Console. Here, at command prompt, type CHKDSK {Drive letter} /p/r. This will solve all the boot issues.