While starting, this XP PC would give a blue screen of death (BSOD), the error: stop 0x00000024 and then something about ntfs.sys

I go to boot from my UBCD4Win CD, but it also gives a BSOD… how unusual.

I go to the bios, but the only thing that seems unusual, is the CPU temperature at 68c… actually, its not that unusual… its a Pentium D… they always run hot.

A RAM test finds no fault.

I try booting a BartPE CD, and it manages to boot, but it doesn’t see that there is a Maxtor 160Gb drive in the system.

I remove the HDD and connect it to my main system via USB… but it isn’t recognised… OK, I plug it into my system via the IDE cable… but then my system won’t boot (and UBCD4Win won’t work either…).

OK, it a faulty HDD, and the motherboard has some leaking capacitors… so it looks like its time for a major upgrade (new motherboard, CPU, RAM, and HDD)… virtually a totally new system.