Quite a read, but the only thing I see that might apply to my situation is that I have free Zone Alarm as my firewall. It never caused a problem in the past, but I'm wondering if the latest update has something to do with this. By the way, another recent thread referring to firewalls had some interesting information indicating that ZA might not be such a good choice any more. I tried Comodo and found it nagged too much, but I'm thinking of trying the one a poster on that thread recommended. Since I have a firewall via a router, maybe I'll shut down ZA and try the System Restore. I still like having a software firewall on each computer, however.

INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE The error usually looks like this *** STOP: 0x0000007B (0x8196C270,0xC0000032,0x00000000,0x00000000) INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE Is that what you had a blue screen? STOP 0x0000007B errors are caused by device driver issues (especially those related to hard drive and other storage controllers), viruses, data corruption, and sometimes even hardware failures. Keep your eyes on it.

he did reboot after selecting normal startup correct? he should check that the startup option for Normal Startup on the first tab is selected and make sure that the SAFEBOOT check box is UNCHECKED on the BOOT.INI tab. also you should know that Diagnostic Startup deletes System Restore Points. From an MVP "If you do NOT clear the selection for "Load System Services", the System restore points would be retained due to the fact, for one, that System Restore service would still be enabled. " If you UNCHECKED "Load System Services" in a "Selective Startup". De-selecting "Load System Services" will temporarily disable Microsoft services (such as, Networking, Plug and Play, Event Logging, and Error Reporting) as well as permanently deleting all restore points for the System Restore utility. You should not, therefore do this if you either want to retain your restore points for System Restore or if you're likely to need to use a Microsoft service to further investigate the problem you're having.) On the other hand, "Diagnostic Startup" involves a step by step monitoring of basic device drivers and services. It allows you to monitor and check each of those drivers and services. Have you tried going into services at msconfig and making sure all your normal services are still set to auto or on? Have you Tried "Last Known Good Configuration" from the F8 startup selection screen? this may be helpful Controlling the system configuration and services

Try this first, Here are Instructions that may help resolve the Issue Reregister DLL files that are associated with Cryptographic Services To register .dll files that are associated with Cryptographic Services, follow these steps: 1. Click Start, and then click Run. 2. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK. 3. At the command prompt, type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each line: Note Click OK if you are prompted. Note Microsoft Windows 2000 does not include the Sccbase.dll file. If you are running a version of Windows 2000, omit the Sccbase.dll file. regsvr32 softpub.dll regsvr32 /u wintrust.dll regsvr32 /u initpki.dll regsvr32 /u dssenh.dll regsvr32 /u rsaenh.dll regsvr32 /u gpkcsp.dll regsvr32 /u sccbase.dll regsvr32 /u slbcsp.dll regsvr32 /u cryptdlg.dll regsvr32 /u softpub.dll exit 4. Restart your computer. 5. Click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open box, and then click OK. 6. At the command prompt, type the following commands (press ENTER after each command). Note Click OK if you are prompted. Note Microsoft Windows 2000 does not include the Sccbase.dll file. If you are running a version of Windows 2000, omit the Sccbase.dll file. regsvr32 softpub.dll regsvr32 wintrust.dll regsvr32 initpki.dll regsvr32 dssenh.dll regsvr32 rsaenh.dll regsvr32 gpkcsp.dll regsvr32 sccbase.dll regsvr32 slbcsp.dll regsvr32 cryptdlg.dll regsvr32 softpub.dll exit