Bluescreen - "Stop: c000026c"

[MarcoVest]

My system is a 2002 Custom, Win 2000Pro, SP4, P4 1.8, IBM HD.  I believe problem started yesterday when my antispyware/antivirus AVAST and AVG gave alert of intrusion and I told it to fix problem.  I then immediately ran Adaware, Spybot, AVG Antivirus, AVAST, and Spydoctor, rebooting each time. At start up each time, after OS completely rebooted, a message appeared saying a drive could not be installed and to restart windows. I would click "OK" and computer ran fine. It was a file I didn't recognize and computer seemed to run fine, so I ignored it.  There were 4 malicious files that could not be fixed, so I was running Adaware the second time when about one minute into the process, blue screen appeared.  Upon rebooting the bluescreen with this message appeared: "STOP:  c000026c (Unable to Load Device Driver) \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\NDIS.SYS device driver could not be loaded. Error Status was 0xc0000221"  I rebooted in safe mode to check device manager, everything seemed OK.  Normal reboot still is giving me the same Bluescreen.

Would appreciate any help. Thanks.

[MarcoVest]

I went to C:\WINNT\system32\drivers and noticed that NDIS.SYS file was last accessed 5/28/07 11:38 PM EST and it is empty, ie, 0 KB.  That is the approx time I got the Bluescreen. Could that be the problem? If so, how did it get emptied (if such a thing makes sense) and where do I get it?

[ms_dos_sux]

I hate to break it to you, but if that system file was gone, your drive is screwed over. get a new C drive and youll be good as new.

[patio]

I hate to break it to you, but if that system file was gone, your drive is screwed over. get a new C drive and youll be good as new.

What type of advice is this ? ? If it didn't boot should he buy a whole new machine ? ?

Marco errors relating to that file sometimes involve certain network cards...
So post any info you can on what network hardware is in that machine. Find that info in Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager....

In the meantime you can try the following...Go to Start/Run and type in sfc /scannow and hit Enter...have your Win2K CD handy as it will ask for it.

Let it run til it finishes and re-boot. This may help. Meantime gather that other info...

[MarcoVest]

I thought same thing, so rebooted safe mode to make sure, file showed up.  I did a Win2000 repair install and everything seems to be working so far.  svchost.exe keeps giving me an error message,  could this be problem with a virus or spyware?  Thanks for input.

[MarcoVest]

Thanks Patio.  Out of curiosity, what would the sfc /scannow have done? May have been a better alternative to Repair Install as I feared  losing data with it, only thing I lost appears to be some of my settings.  Svchost.exe still giving me error messages, seems to be quite busy in Task Manager.

[patio]

SFC is System File Checker...it basically looks at all Windows system files and determines if they are intact and in good shape...any it finds that are mangled/moved it overwrites with originals.
You did no harm with a repair install thank goodness you were familiar with it...i've seen plenty of users that panic when problems arise and format and re-install and wonder where their data and programs have gotten off to.

There can be numerous causes for svchost acting on steroids but for now i would update and run all your protection programs and do a clean boot when you're done.

Post a list of which ones you have and we can offer some tips there as well....

BTW Welcome Aboard and i hope you enjoy your stay !

[scaptic]

your computer is bein attacked by a virus get the error message number (c000026c) and google it, u will get symtoms, causes and solution to how you can fix your problem e.t.c.


WELLCOME TO "COMPUTER BRAIN" SCAPTIC(IF U GOT ANYTHING U WANT JST CONTACT ME "MR COMPUTER")

[MarcoVest]

Ran Spybot, Adaware SE, Avast Antivirus, AVG Antivirus/Antispyware, Spyware Doctor several times, rebooting each time.  Problem appears to be resolved.  Suggestions on other Utilities I could run, like a good Optimization Utility would be appreciated.  Thanks for your help.

[patio]

That's a fairly decent protection package you have...you might want to add CCleaner and you should be good to go.

Right click the drive in My Computer, select Properties/Tools and run both defrag and error checking.
This could take some time if it hasn't been run in awhile so grab a cup of coffee...

[MarcoVest]

Patio, CCleaner done cleaned up the System!!!!  Would you recommend a Optimization/Diagnostic utility like Ashampoo, System Mechanic, or Sandra Lite or other, to tweek system to include hardware & OS?  Or do I have enough utilities going on? thanks for your help.

[patio]

I suggest just doing just the regular maintenence along with running your protection programs and keeping them updated...
I've tried all you mentioned and although some have some nice features i found the resources trade off was not to my liking.

Staying on top of things along with a weekly defrag works the best for me...on all OS's i run except Ubuntu.

p.s. If you do decide on tweaking be sure to have a solid backup strategy in place as things can go South rather rapidly...i recommend Acronis True Image as a backup program

I use TweakUI.

Best deal currently is at newegg.com....Kudos to GX1_Man ! !