Value Creation Failed Error

  • Thread starter Thread starter pamhollingsworth03
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pamhollingsworth03

My Windows XP Home Edition doesn't want to start up
completely. All I get when rebooting is an error: Value
Creation Failed on line 422 Error code 0x80040507. The
computer was purchased from Dell about a year and a half
ago, so it is not longer under warranty. I've tried
reinstalling the Windows XP installation disk, but it
starts to read, then stops. My screen then turns grey and
freezes up. Appreciate your assistance.
 
Here are some things you can try, among them, a repair install though I'm
dubious that you will be able to do that given what you've already posted.

Boot the system, start tapping F8, at the menu, select "Last known good
configuration," and press enter. If that fails to resolve it, boot the
system start tapping F8, at the menu select "Safe Mode" and press enter. At
Safe Mode, you should be offered the option to use System Restore, accept
and try restoring your system to a time prior to when this began. If you
are not given the option at Safe Mode, then, one in Safe Mode, go to
Start\All Programs\Accessories\System Tools\System Restore.

If this fails to resolve the issue, see below:

Assuming you have an actual XP CD as opposed to a recovery CD, try a Repair
install as follows:
NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.

If you only have a recovery CD, your options are quite limited. You can
either purchase a retail version of XP will allow you to perform the above
among other tools and options it has or you can run your system recovery
routine with the Recovery CD which will likely wipe your drive, deleting all
files but will restore your setup to factory fresh condition.

If all of the above fail, You're next step would be a clean install. If
you are backed up, you would simply follow the instructions I post below.
However, if you are not, the only way you can attempt to save your data
would be to follow the instructions below but install XP to a separate
partition. If you have no such partition available, you would need third
party software such as PowerQuest's (Now owned by Symantec) Partition Magic:
www.powerquest.com.

NOTE: the following will wipe whatever drive on which this procedure is
performed and you will lose any data on that drive if not backed up:

Assuming your system is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive, boot with the XP
CD in the drive. If it isn't or you are not sure, you need to enter the
system's BIOS. When you boot the system, the first screen usually has
instructions that if you wish to enter setup press a specific key, when you
see that, do so. Then you will have to navigate to the boot sequence, if
the CD-ROM drive is not first line, set it first in the boot sequence. Save
your settings and exit with the XP CD in the drive. The system will reboot.

A few screens into the boot process, if you see the message on the boot
screen to "Press any key in order to boot from the CD," do so.

After loading drivers and files, you should be taken to a screen with
the following:

To Setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
To Repair a Windows XP Installation using Recovery Console press R.
To Quit setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

In your case, press ENTER.

Agree to the License agreement by pressing F8.

You will then be taken to a screen with two options.

To repair the selected Windows XP installation press R.
To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing,
press ESC.

This will bring you to a partition map where you
can delete, create and format partitions.
Select the drive you wish to format, delete the partition, then create a new
partition, format as desired and continue with XP installation.
 
I certainly appreciate your indept response. I tried last
night to follow all of your instructions, but those
options failed. I have a lot of data, unfortunately not
backed up, so my option now is to purchase a new XP
version. I'm also disappointed in Dell and Microsoft.
Both are instructing me to call the other. The only other
solution Dell had was to do a complete clean install which
would loose all my data or have them back up my data at a
cost of $244. Microsoft said that Dell is the primary
resource because I purchased my complete system from them.
They wouldn't assist at all.

Again, my thanks to you for a quick and detailed
response.....Your quote at the bottom couldn't of been
more appropriate. "Backup is a PC User's Best Friend".
 
You're welcome.

With regard to the support, while it probably doesn't mean much to you at
this point, Dell is responsible and they are in violation of their license
and warranty, if you are still covered, in sending you to Microsoft. These
arrangements are set up this way for good reason. The system builder knows
your system, they know the components and they also have a greater
understanding of what can and can't be done and how any fixes might work
with their setup or whether or not an issue is a bug in their setup.

Second, very often, the manufacturer has a modified version of the operating
system. There's simply too many variables for Microsoft to be able to offer
support whereas it is the responsibility of the manufacture and this is one
of the reasons it's setup that way. That said, too often, the manufacturer
offers an all or nothing approach, especially when they've only provided a
recovery CD as that only provides the user with an option to format, loose
all their data and start over.

In any event, I'm sorry I could be of more help. Since you are going to
purchase a retail version, be sure to take note of the last option I posted
which would be to install XP to a separate partition, then access your old
setup from the new installation in order to bring your data over from that
setup. If you do so, you will likely run into a an access denied message,
this is resolved by taking ownership of the files as follows:

Note, file ownership and permissions supersede administrator rights. How
you resolve it depends upon which version of XP you are running.

XP-Home

Unfortunately, XP Home using NTFS is essentially hard wired for "Simple File
Sharing" at system level.

However, you can set XP Home permissions in Safe Mode. Reboot, and start
hitting F8, a menu should eventually appear and one of the
options is Safe Mode. Select it. Note, it will ask for the administrator's
password. This is not your administrator account, rather it is the
machine's administrator account for which users are asked to create a
password during setup.

If you created no such password, when requested, leave blank and press
enter.

Open Explorer, go to Tools and Folder Options, on the view tab, scroll to
the bottom of the list, if it shows "Enable Simple File Sharing" deselect it
and click apply and ok. If it shows nothing or won't let you make a change,
move on to the next step.

Navigate to the files, right click, select properties, go to the Security
tab, click advanced, go to the Owner tab and select the user that was logged
on when you were refused permission to access the files. Click apply and
ok. Close the properties box, reopen it, click add and type in the name of
the user you just enabled. If you wish to set ownership for everything in
the folder, at the bottom of the Owner tab is the following selection:
"Replace owner on subcontainers and objects," select it as well.

Once complete, you should be able to do what you wish with these files when
you log back on as that user.

XP-Pro

If you have XP Pro, temporarily change the limited account to
administrative. First, go to Windows Explorer, go to Tools, select Folder
Options, go to the View tab and be sure "Use Simple File Sharing" is not
selected. If it is, deselect it and click apply and ok.

If you wish everything in a specific folder to be accessible to a user,
right click the folder, select properties, go to the Security tab, click
Advanced, go to the Owner tab,
select the user you wish to have access, at the bottom of the box, you
should see a check box for "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects,"
place a check in the box and click apply and ok.

The user should now be able to perform necessary functions on files in the
folder even as a limited account. If not, make it an admin account again,
right click the folder, select Properties, go to the Security tab and be
sure the user is listed in the user list. If not, click add and type the
user name in the appropriate box, be sure the user has all the necessary
permissions checked in the permission list below the user list, click apply
and ok.

That should do it and allow whatever access you desire for that folder even
in a limited account.
 
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