Atapi.sys strange error

A friend of mine is having some problems with XP and atapi.sys.

She was trying to install a Mozilla update and accidentally killed the updater mid-process. Something crashed, and she now can't download Mozilla to reinstall it.

At 99%, it freezes, gives me a blue screen of death that says ... I think "inpage_data_kernel_error" (I can never remember the word order) and down below it specifies "atapi.sys"

Click to expand...

She can download other things, just not Mozilla (could that folder have gotten a virus of some sort?).

Thats odd because I think atapi.sys is for controlling IDE devices?

If a version of Mozilla is installed I would uninstall it and delete out the Mozilla directories. Maybe do some registry cleanup and then run Windows update. Also update your antivirus software and run spybot.

I think you can rename atapi.sys to atapi.old in safe mode, reboot and Windows will reinstall it. Don't try this unless someone else here confirms it.

The 0x0000007A: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR (related to atapi.sys) normally results from a dying HDD, faulty controller, or damaged / incompatible controller drivers... sometimes even bad RAM. Run the HDD manufacturer's diagnostic utility on the drive, and Memtest86+ on the RAM...

Stop 0x0000007A or KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...serv/reskit/prork/prhd_exe_qofl.mspx?mfr=true

Memtest86+
http://www.memtest.org/