Danger Danger Will Robinson

[Craig A.]

My daughter's computer will NOT boot up and I can NOT even go into SAFE
MODE. I am able to change the bios to boot from a CD but need to know what I
can do to solve the problem without re formating etc. (I am on a slow dial up
and Windows updates, takes forever)
The error message no matter what I try is.

<windows root>\system32\hal.dll

Any ideas or sugggestions will be apprecieated, been googling all morning.

Thanks

 

[Big Al]

My daughter's computer will NOT boot up and I can NOT even go into SAFE
MODE. I am able to change the bios to boot from a CD but need to know what I
can do to solve the problem without re formating etc. (I am on a slow dial up
and Windows updates, takes forever)
The error message no matter what I try is.

<windows root>\system32\hal.dll

Any ideas or sugggestions will be apprecieated, been googling all morning.

Thanks

At least you still have your sense of humor. "danger danger will..."

 

[R. McCarty]

Read through the following:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945380/

 

[Malke]

My daughter's computer will NOT boot up and I can NOT even go into SAFE
MODE. I am able to change the bios to boot from a CD but need to know
what I can do to solve the problem without re formating etc. (I am on a
slow dial up and Windows updates, takes forever)
The error message no matter what I try is.

<windows root>\system32\hal.dll

Any ideas or sugggestions will be apprecieated, been googling all morning.

From the late MVP Alex Nichol:
****
WINDOWS COULD NOT FIND START BECAUSE THE FOLLOWING FILE IS MISSING OR
CORRUPT
WINDOWS ROOT>\SYSTEM32\hal.dll

That message is rather misleading. It happens because the boot.ini file
that tells the boot where to look for 'Windows' is damaged, so it is
looking for files in the wrong place - hal.dll just happens to be the first
one it looks for. Set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard Disk. Boot the XP CD
and, instead of Setup, take the immediate R for Repair. Assume any
password requested is blank, and TAB over.

Use
Attrib -H -R -S C:\boot.ini
DEL C:\boot.ini
to delete the bad one
BootCfg /Rebuild

to search for Windows installations and make a new one.
****

Malke

 

[Craig A.]

Will give it try, thanks
--
I Have forgotten so much of what I once knew.
"A Stranger is a Friend you haven''t met yet."

Read through the following:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945380/

 

[Craig A.]

I do NOT have a Windows XP Cd, I have a HP Computer with Windows on a
seperate petition.

That is another part of my delima, that I may have left out.

If life would oONLY be just so easy..... Ta shame, Ta shame.

Thanks anyways.... Malke

 

[Craig A.]

It may seem that to you, because you do not have a VISUAL...

I am really a shaking nutcase this reay to play Russian Rouelette with a
Single shot pistol...... Daughter says, she feels my pain, she is in Living
Room watching TV, I am in her room trying to figure out..."Ok! now what"
I have been messing with computers for 30 years and I have never had one I
couldn't at least get to SAFE MODE or a in the old days, a DOS directory.

 

[HEMI-Powered]

Big Al added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

At least you still have your sense of humor. "danger danger
will..."

and not "kill the girl!"

 

[HEMI-Powered]

=?Utf-8?B?Q3JhaWcgQS4=?= added these comments in the current
discussion du jour ...

I do NOT have a Windows XP Cd, I have a HP Computer with Windows
on a
seperate petition.

That is another part of my delima, that I may have left out.

If life would oONLY be just so easy..... Ta shame, Ta shame.

Assuming your daughter's data is backed up - you DO perform backups,
right? - then just pop in your HP CD and let 'er rip. It should restore
your PC to its as-purchased state sans ANY data and all your apps. In
future, consider a good imaging program such as Acronis True Image or
Norton Ghost, it will save you a LOT of time and effort if this happens
again.

Good luck!

 

[Malke]

I do NOT have a Windows XP Cd, I have a HP Computer with Windows on a
seperate petition.

That is another part of my delima, that I may have left out.

If life would oONLY be just so easy..... Ta shame, Ta shame.

Borrow one or take the machine to a local computer professional. Sorry I
can't help you further.

Malke

 

[Craig A.]

Are you saying I can use any Windows XP Cd to do the repair??????

I can make a copy of my brothers and use it, if it will work.

 

[MAP]

I do NOT have a Windows XP Cd, I have a HP Computer with Windows on a
seperate petition.

That is another part of my delima, that I may have left out.

If life would oONLY be just so easy..... Ta shame, Ta shame.

Thanks anyways.... Malke

My last computer was an HP and it had an option to do a repair install as
well as a full format,look under all programs>HP tools.
Note: the wording may be misleading as it is doing a repair install using a
cd.
Good Luck.

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

your daughters computer...?

i would reformat the
entire disk and reinstall
windows.

then utilizing your
thirty years of experience
make a backup and creat
a limited user account for
her to log into, unless you
want to spend thirty years
figuring out what all she
did to it. not worth the
trouble.

 

[jake]

Sounds like your mbr is corrupt
If your brother has the same operating system you can make a boot floppy to
get past your problem until you can find a way to rebuild your mbr.
Your going to need to copy boot.ini,ntdect.com and ntldr onto floppy and set
bios to boot from floppy
Hope this helps

 

[Daave]

Boot the XP CD and, instead of Setup, take the immediate R for
Repair.

The first R is for the Recovery Console.

 

[jake]

spell check
the files you are going to need are ntdetect.com, boot.ini, ntldr
You can find them all on your root drive (c:\)
they are all hidden by default so you have to unhide them

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Are you saying I can use any Windows XP Cd to do the repair??????

Yes! You can use any bootable XP CD, home or Pro, to get to the Recovery
Console, which is where these instructions take you.

I can make a copy of my brothers and use it, if it will work.

You can borrow it for half an hour and be done.

HTH
-pk