BSOD Error code: 0xc0000221

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I am stuck in a loop. I just got an BSOD Error code: 0xc0000221. I can’t get a screenshot but here is what I see on the blue screen:

“RECOVERY | Your PC/Device needs to be repaired

The header checksum for this file doesn’t match the computed checksum

Error code: 0xc0000221”

Please note the mention of “checksum”. I am able to get into my recovery partition. I clicked on “Troubleshoot” and I have tried “Startup Repair” and “System Restore” and I put in a new CMOS battery but the problem remains. I haven’t tried “Uninstall Updates” because my last update was a month ago and “System Image Recovery” yet but I do have system images. I’ll try if necessary. The problem occurred after running Windows “Backup & Restore (Windows 7)” to make an image. Immediately after this I opened Macrium Reflect to make another image but got an error message that Macrium could not run the image backup. So I restarted my computer and now have the reoccurring blue screen. The computer is a 64-bit, Windows 10 Pro, 22H2.

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Sounds very much like a hardware error, most likely a drive data error.

What media are your Macrium backups stored on?

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Could be a hardware issue, or a corrupt system file…

From the Repair environment…

In Advanced Options, select Command Prompt.

At the X: Command prompt, enter diskpart

At the diskpart command prompt, enter list volume

Check the drive letter for the volume Windows is installed on (may or may not be C:)

At the diskpart command prompt, enter exit. This will return to the X: Command prompt.

Enter the drive letter for the Windows volume (i.e. C: or whatever diskpart says it is).

Run sfc /scannow /offbootdir=<drive letter:\> /offwindir=<drive letter:\Windows>

Example (where W: is the drive letter)…

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=W:\  /offwindir=W:\Windows

Then, run chkdsk  /offlinescanandfix

Reboot.

If it still fails, restore your system from the most recent drive image.

If it works, check memory for errors. (MemTest86 or MemTest86+)

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/14201-memtest86-test-ram.html

 

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Rob Kay

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Hi OldNavyGuy,

Just wanted to find out if you got my reply that your instructions worked. Just asking because I made a reply but I do not see it in this post. Don’t know what happened to it. At any rate, thank you very much.

Steve H.

1 user thanked author for this post.

OldGuyForum

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Hi OldNavyGuy,

I want to inform you on the status of this. As mentioned, your command prompt instructions worked and I got back into my system. I then ran both memtest86 (per your suggestion) and Windows Memory Diagnostics and both showed failure. I then removed the 2 (of 4) older memory modules and both tests then passed. I replaced the 2 older modules with 2 newer ones and both tests again passed. This seemingly pointed to the bad memory as the cause of my system failure.

However, I just made a system image using Windows Backup and Restore (Windows 7) and I got the system error again right after it completed. This seems to point to Backup and restore as the culprit. I have been using this for years now without difficulties. However, I also use Macrium Reflect to make system images. This is working without problems.

Let me point out that the “diskpart”, “list volume” commands show all my hard drive volumes as “Healthy” (see attachment). Rerunning the memory tests with the 2 new modules (4 total) show no problems.

Do you have any thoughts why it seems that the Windows Backup and Restore is causing this problem? Again, I have been using this for years now without any problems until recently. Also, I continue to use Macrium Reflect without problems.

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How about this ?

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sahalen wrote:

Do you have any thoughts why it seems that the Windows Backup and Restore is causing this problem? Again, I have been using this for years now without any problems until recently. Also, I continue to use Macrium Reflect without problems.

I would not walk, but run from using Backup and Restore (Windows 7)…

The main drawbacks with using it to make drive images are –

1. It uses the same folder WindowsImageBackup every time, so it will overwrite the previous disk image saved in that folder, making it impossible to keep multiple disk images…unless you rename the existing folder.

Example:

You would have to manually rename the folder WindowsImageBackup to something like WindowsImageBackup-TodaysDate BEFORE creating the new image.

So, say if you wanted to restore a disk image from a couple of weeks ago, you would need to rename the current folder to something other than WindowsImageBackup (like WindowsImageBackup-Ignore) and rename the folder WindowsImageBackup-TwoWeeksAgoDate to WindowsImageBackup.

WindowsImageBackup is the only folder name that is recognized.

It’s a mess.

2. There is no “byte-for-byte” validation, so there is no way to verify that files on the disk image match those on the drive that was backed up.

3. There is no way to control how the disk image file is compressed on the backup drive. Larger backups mean fewer disk images can be stored.

Stick with Macrium.

I personally use Terabyte Unlimited’s Image for Windows/Linux for full images and restores…and Hasleo Backup Suite for folder images such as user profiles, and the driver store.

All that being said…

Was a crash dump file (.dmp) generated for the latest BSOD?

Have you run chkdsk /r on the backup media?

I would recommend downloading Seagate’s SeaTools Bootable.

https://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/

After creating the bootable media on a USB flash drive, boot and run the Long Generic Test on the backup media, and see if it finds errors…it could take a while to run to completion.

Note: It doesn’t matter if the drive is not a Seagate…I’ve run it successfully on WD drives.

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Thank you for your immediate response.  I haven’t tried your recent recommendation yet but I will let you know when I do.  I have checked my crash dump files (*.dmp) and there aren’t any for the issue and date of occurrence. Summarizing my system, I save both the Windows Backup and Restore and Macrium Reflect system images to drives M: and N:.  These are both Western Digital, removal, USB drives. I first always save a Windows image to M: then to N:.  I next do the same with Macrium Reflect, but recently I have been getting an error that it can’t proceed. When I try to reboot, I get the BSOD. I have tried Macrium alone and it proceeds normally without issues.

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sahalen wrote:

I have checked my crash dump files (*.dmp) and there aren’t any for the issue and date of occurrence.

Check that it’s set up…

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/random-bsod/#post-2665177

When you get a crash dump, follow the Sysnative BSOD Posting Instructions and start a thread there.

sahalen wrote:

I save both the Windows Backup and Restore and Macrium Reflect system images to drives M: and N:. These are both Western Digital, removal, USB drives.

In the meantime, run chkdsk /r and the SeaTools Long Generic Test on those two drives.

 

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Hi again OldNavyGuy,

OK, here’s the latest status:

I ran chkdsk /r on my two removable USB hard drives and the results are given in screenshots 1 (drive M:) & 2 (drive N:).  Here is a summary of what Windows reports for:

Drive M:, “CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap”. Windows has made corrections to the file system.”  “No further action is required”.  “0 KB in bad sectors”.

Drive N:, “Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems”.  “No further action is required”.  “0 KB in bad sectors”.

Could the results for M: have contributed to the problem?

Concerning Seagate’s SeaTools, I downloaded SeaTools Bootable but it doesn’t allow me to scan the drives. I installed the tool on an USD flash drive and booted into it but I do not get the ability to “Select Drives to Test” or “Select a Test to Run”.  The 3 attached images are what I get.  Image 3 is the last one that shows.  What am I missing?

I am interested in running the SeaTools, but are the chkdsk results enough?  I have not run Windows Backup and Restore after running chkdsk /r to see if the problem has been resolved.  I’ll take your advice and use only Macrium.

Thanks again, sahalen

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sahalen wrote:

Image 3 is the last one that shows.

Click on a blank area on that screen, and a context menu should display.

Select Applications > SeaToolsX – Cross Platform.

Then…

Select your language (or accept the default).

Accept the EULA…scroll the text to the bottom to get the accept button.

You should see the drives list after that.

Normally, the language and EULA screens come up automatically after the boot sequence, but that’s how to get back in from the screen in Image 3.

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I called up the context menu and selected Applications but I do not see SeaToolsX – Cross Platform (see attached)????

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I’m on Windows 10 22H2 as well, and it works as expected for me.

Try starting over by remaking the boot media…see the limitations in ReadMeFirst.SeaToolsBootable.txt

One that may cause an issue is this…

KNOWN LIMITATION: The Seagate USB boot maker tool needs a USB flash drive of size 256MiB or larger but less than 32GiB. The USB flash drive must be formatted to FAT32 (in this size range they usually are).

If you’re using Secure Boot, turn it off when booting from the media, and turn it back on when you’re done.

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Out of the blue, one of my machine threw the BSOD 0xc0000221.

What corrected this situation for me was to open the computer, remove each memory stick (I had two 4GB sticks), wipe the contacts and then re-insert.

Machine booted right up after that with no problems.

So, in my case it was memory related, and was a simple fix.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Rob Kay

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