Thinkpad won't boot

I was given An IBM Thinkpad lenovo R61i running Windows XP. On boot up I get this message:

stop. c000021a {fatal system error} the windows logon process system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xcoooooo5 (0x00000000
0x00000000). The system has been shut down.

Sounds really bad. I have no idea what to do. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for the quick response.

Hogan

 

Usually a virus. If you can, rip out the HDD, stick it in an external enclosure and hook it up to another PC, and reformat it.

 

Thanks. I figured the HD was either dead or infected. I'll try reformatting first. If I have to replace the HD is it hard to do?

 

That ultimately depends on the laptop. Not usually, but you need to get a similar replacement.

 

email ibm and ask them. we have three or four door stops that used to be thinkpads before the owners played they need the right harddrives