stop error c0000135

If the STOP error is as I described:

STOP: c0000135 {Unable To Locate Component}

This application has failed to start because winsrv.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.

You can see that it mentions a missing winsrv.dll file.  You can replace that file using the XP Recovery Console.  If that is your only problem, you will be able to boot and then figure out how the file came up missing in the first place.  There are several files that if they are missing will report STOP: c0000135... Usually, it just takes a few minutes to get running again with these kinds of errors.

Sometimes various antivirus softwares will quarantine (effectively: delete) critical XP system files if it thinks the files are infected (maybe they really are).

You will not boot XP in any kind of mode if some of these files are missing.

Since you have had some action from other CDs, the HDD has been reformatted and an attempt was made to reinstall XP, it wounds a little iffy on what condition your system is in right now.  You may have more problems than just a missing file.  You may have to start all over with a format and reinstall.

Anywho, you should create a bootable XP Recovery Console CD and then you can usually just replace the file, but even that may not work out depending on the current conditions.  I will give the same instructions I give when it is just a missing winsrv.dll file and you can see how that works out.  It may not work out and somebody else may have some other ideas, but this is what I would do first.

You can make a bootable Recovery Console CD by downloading an ISO file and burning it to a CD.

The bootable ISO image file you need to download is called:

xp_rec_con.iso 

Download the ISO file from here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?ueyyzfymmig

Use a new CD and this free and easy program to burn your ISO file and create your bootable CD:

http://www.imgburn.com/

Here are some instructions for ImgBurn:

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=61

It would be a good idea to test your bootable CD on a computer that is working.

You may need to adjust the computer BIOS settings to use the CD ROM drive as the first boot device instead of the hard disk.  These adjustments are made before Windows tries to load.  If you miss it, you will have to reboot the system again.

When you boot on the CD, follow the prompts:

Press any key to boot from CD...

The Windows Setup... will proceed.

Press 'R' to enter the Recovery Console.

Select the installation you want to access (usually  1: C:\WINDOWS)

You may be asked to enter the Administrator password (usually empty).

You should be in the C:\WINDOWS folder.  This is the same as the 

C:\WINDOWS folder you see in explorer.

The Recovery Console allows basic file commands like: copy, rename, replace, delete, cd, chkdsk, fixboot, fixmbr, etc.

For a list of Recovery Console commands, enter help at the prompt.

First verify the integrity of your file system using the chkdsk command.

From the command prompt window run the chkdsk command on the drive where Windows is installed to try to repair any problems on the afflicted drive.

Running chkdsk is fine even if it doesn't find any problems.  It will not hurt anything to run it.

Assuming your boot drive is C, run the following command:

chkdsk C: /r

Let chkdsk finish and correct any problems it might find.  It may take a long time for chkdsk to complete or it may appear to be 'stuck'.  Be patient.  If the HDD light is still flashing, chkdsk is doing something.  Keep an eye on the percentage amount to be sure it is still making progress.  It may even appear to go backwards sometimes.

You should run chkdsk /r again until it finds no errors to correct.

When chkdsk /r completes without error,  replace the missing/suspicious file.

The file you need to replace is:

c:\windows\system32\winsrv.dll

Once you can get into Recovery Console, replace the file by copying the backup copy from this folder:

c:\windows\system32\dllcache

To do that, from the C:\WINDOWS prompt in Recovery Console you would enter this command:

copy c:\windows\system32\dllcache\winsrv.dll  c:\windows\system32

Respond in the affirmative if asked to overwrite the existing file and then you should see a message that 1 file(s) was copied.

You just want to replace the mssing/suspicious file.

Remove the CD and enter the 'exit' command from the Recovery Console prompt to restart your system.

If you have a genuine bootable XP installation CD installed and if the CD is drive X, you can expand the file from the i386 folder on the genuine bootable XP installation CD into your c:\windows\system32 folder by entering this command:

expand x:\i386\winsrv.dl_  c:\windows\system32\winsrv.dll

Respond in the affirmative if asked to overwrite the existing file and then you should see a message that 1 file(s) was expanded.

Remove the CD and enter the 'exit' command from the Recovery Console prompt to restart your system.

I tried your suggestions and made a bootable cd and tried it in a computer that worked to test it and the cd worked fine. So now I tried to fix my laptop but with either cd, the one I made or the xp cd that came with the laptop i wasn't able to "boot from cd" laptop would always go right to the error message.At this point I thought the hard drive was shoot and i would need a new one. Then I thought of trying something totally different and it worked and I thought you might want to add it to your suggestion on this fix for future fixes. While going throught my cd case of cd's i found a xp cd but it was an early version it was xp home edition service pack 1, so i gave it a try and i was able to boot laptop from cd and get to the recovery console and do the chkdsk and copy the copy c:\windows\system32\dllcache\winsrv.dll. but it wouldn't let me add the expand file so i put the xp service pack 2 cd in and was able to boot from cd now so i recopied the copy file it copied but the expand file wouldn't it said it was a bad file path or something like that so i did the chkdsk and it found bad files i repeated it several times but same results so i had to format the hard drive and reinstall xp. laptop working fine now. Thank You for your help it got me pointed in the right direction i guess