PC Help

[A T]

Guys, i tried to start my pc this evening and i get something like:
<windowsroot>\system32\hal.ddl missing or corrupt
I can't boot in safe mood and i can't run the hdd recovery, i'm assuming the later is because i was forced to install a new motherboard last year?
It was running two operating systems, xp and 7, i probably did this by deleting the partition that was holding 7 yesterday as it was giving me bags of trouble. Do any of you guys know of a way to fix this without reinstalling xp from fresh?

 

[unclepumble]

Guys, i tried to start my pc this evening and i get something like:
<windowsroot>\system32\hal.ddl missing or corrupt
I can't boot in safe mood and i can't run the hdd recovery, i'm assuming the later is because i was forced to install a new motherboard last year?
It was running two operating systems, xp and 7, i probably did this by deleting the partition that was holding 7 yesterday as it was giving me bags of trouble. Do any of you guys know of a way to fix this without reinstalling xp from fresh?

It sounds like you have removed the master boot record, It could be a real bstard to fix.

read this it should help.
http://www.tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm

UP

 

[mr_spin]

I agree this is normally a fecker to fix and could be caused by a number of factors. Are you able to run the recovery console? This can normally be accessed by pressing the F8 key a number of times whilst booting.

here is microsoft's official support KB url for this

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477

 

[A T]

Cheers for the help guys, i'm to tired to think about it now so i'll have a look tomorrow :thumb:

 

[unclepumble]

Cheers for the help guys, i'm to tired to think about it now so i'll have a look tomorrow :thumb:

Wise Move Grasshopper :ugeek: :whistle:

 

[prolix]

with crud like that you are probably staring at a reinstall tbh, if you can keep windows on one hdd and the universe on another it makes these things a lot less painful.

I tend to reformat and reinstall rather than fix and fully check the hdd.

There are ways of making this painless.

 

[Aleman]

The HAL.DLL is the Hardware Abstraction Layer Interface . . . which is the link between the physical hardware (as in the hardware device drivers) and windows itself. If it is corrupt or missing you are basically f*cked, and are looking at a reinstall (Try doing it on a new hard drive, as you will then be able to recover data from your disc . . . you could also copy the HAL.DLL from another disk once you have it booted . . . The trick will be the getting the right patched HAL.DLL for the version of XP you have on your 'failed' drive . . . . and even then you might very well find other issues with other DLL's once you have done that.

 

[A T]

Thanks again guys, i have 95% of my hard drive backed up so it's not the end of the world :thumb:

 

[TheMumbler]

you might be able to get at your data using something like Knoppix that boots from a cd. I've recovered data from an XP machine that wouldn't boot before. Is your data on a separate partition?

 

[A T]

The data is on the C drive along with xp but i have most of it backed up to an external drive so i'm not overly bothered about the last few weeks of data that wasn't backed up

 

[TheMumbler]

http://www.knoppix.net/
probably worth a go, nothing to lose apart from a cdr, best of luck :)

 

[Springer]

As Mr. Mumbler said a Knoppix or Puppy linux disc boot, should read your data for transferring. Have you thought of going over to Linux, Ubuntu works fine for me.
I chucked my windows out about eight years ago, after a virus attack, when Gates lot Pi--ed me about, having to give and receive manually a 50 or 60 digit code to re-access software that I had paid for :evil:
With Unbuntu and others you install the operating system and a load of other stuff for free. Including the equivalent of all the Office packages, which can save and read office formats. Plus loads of other free stuff, photo aps, gimp link photoshop, Qcad like 2D Autocad. Most things are available
I'm a neck down but had no trouble sorting it and have no trouble using windows at work and UBUNTU at home. Its only like being on any computer when you've had a :drink:
Enough of a sales pitch from me for something thats free.
S
My computer always beats me at chess :cry: I always win at kick boxing :lol:

 

[A T]

My computer always beats me at chess :cry: I always win at kick boxing :lol:

:rofl: :rofl:

 

[ni9e]

A T try this a mate had the same prob and sorted it glad I bookmarked it now :thumb:


The Windows 2000 and Windows XP CDs supplied by Microsoft have a tool called the Recovery Console which can be used to repair errors that prevent Windows XP from starting using the command line. OEM versions of Windows XP, including computers that were supplied with Windows XP preinstalled, may not have this utility, so the following steps may not work:

Insert the Windows CD and start the computer.
When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press R.
Type a number corresponding to the Windows installation you wish to repair (usually 1) and press Enter.
When prompted, type the administrator password and press Enter.
At the command prompt, enter the following commands./ (The example commands assume that C: is your Windows drive. Change the drive letter if appropriate.)
ATTRIB -H -R -S C:\BOOT.INI
DEL C:\BOOT.INI
BOOTCFG /REBUILD FIXBOOT
Remove the Windows XP CD from the drive and restart the computer.
If this does not resolve the problem:

Repeat the instructions above to boot to the recovery console and log on as administrator.
At the command prompt type the following command:
EXPAND D:\I386\HAL.DL_ C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\HAL.DLL

 

[A T]

Thanks ni9e, i'll give that a try :thumb:

 

[A T]

I had no idea what the admin password was so i did a fresh install on a partition on the drive, from here now i can access the C drive, so can i just get the hal.ddl from somewhere and put it back onto the C drive where it's supposed to be? :wha: