I'm fairly sure I have seen, and worked around that error, or one that sounds similar. IIRC, the system was not patched (in general) enough and the MS run-time installers were the wrong versions. (I can't remember what MS calls them, but I "think" they are up to version 3.<?>) Look into that yourself. I hope this points you in a productive direction. If the computer works at all, part of the process might be to use the special Norton cleaners from their site. Once a Norton install (new or old) is damaged it is not easy (or quick) to get things "right" again, (but I always have). Good luck, Rick Glazier From: "dorothy jones" > Can anyone help me sort out my lap top? I have an HP running Windows XP pro. > I paid for and downloaded Norton Antivirus 2007 from Symantic, and was > installing the files when an error message came up, unable to install. The > program went through an investigation after which it again said it was > unable to install and to close the installation page. > Then my lap top came up with the following message. > STOP: Coooo21a {Fatal System Error}. The session manager initialisation > system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of > Ox000003a ()x00000000 Ox0000000). > > The lap top shut down and opened again with a message Autochck program not > found Skip Autochck. > > It closed down again and when it started up again a black screen appeared > with lines of white writing showing me several choices for starting in safe > mode etc. Each choice I clicked on gave me lists of system files then > restarted and went through the whole process again. I tried starting the lap > top several times but got the same procedure over and over again. > Can anyone tell me what is happening? The NOSPIN Group has added a new feature on our website, web based bulletinboard for questions and answers: Visit our sister website at http://nospin.com