I have XP Home Edition on a 7 yr old EMachine T1090 with no operating disks.
While logging on, the screen locked up and after I turned the pc off/on the
following message occurs: "WIndows could not start because the following
files is missing or corrupt. <Windows Root> \system32\hal.dll. Please
reinstall a copy of the of the above file." I can't F8 to a DOS Promptor
anything. What are my options without a recovery or boot disk/cd? - Gregg
Thank you any & everyone for your assistance!
That message is coming from XP, so it is at least trying to start.
"Missing or corrupt file" messages could mean that XP just can't read
the hard disk. It could be a big problem if your HDD failed, or could
be as easy as a botched file system from something like a power
failure. What is the history of this problem?
I would start with chkdsk /r to see if the suspicious file system can
be repaired, but to run that (or any other programs) without moving
around hardware, you have to boot the system on something.
If you have no bootable CDs, make an XP Recovery Console CD.
You can make a bootable Recovery Console CD by downloading an ISO file
and burning it to a CD.
The XP Recovery Console commands can be run from the bootable
Recovery Console CD.
The bootable ISO image file you need to download is called:
xp_rec_con.iso
Download the ISO file from here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ueyyzfymmig
Use this free and easy program to create your bootable CD:
http://www.imgburn.com/
It would be a good idea to test your bootable CD on the computer that
is
working.
You may need to adjust the computer BIOS settings to use the CD ROM
drive
as the first boot device instead of the hard disk. These adjustments
are
made before Windows tries to load. If you miss it, you will have to
reboot
the system again.
When you boot on the CD, follow the prompts:
Press any key to boot from CD...
The Windows Setup... will proceed.
Press 'R' to enter the Recovery Console.
Select the installation you want to access (usually 1: C:\WINDOWS)
You may be asked to enter the Administrator password (usually empty).
You should be in the C:\SYSTEM folder. This is the same as the
C:\WINDOWS folder you see in explorer.
RC allows basic file commands - copy, rename, replace, delete,
cd, chkdsk, fixboot, fixmbr, etc.
From the command prompt window run the chkdsk command to try to repair
any problems on the afflicted drive. Running chkdsk is fine to run
even
if it doesn't find any problems. Run it anyway.
chkdsk C: /r
Let chkdsk finish and correct any problems it might find. It may take
a long
time to complete or appear to be 'stuck'. Be patient. If the HDD
light is
still flashing, it is doing something. Keep an eye on the percentage
amount to
be sure it is still making progress.
Remove the CD and type 'exit' to leave the RC and restart the
computer.
You do not have to adjust the BIOS again to boot on the HDD since the
CD will
not be present.
Here is additional information about how to start Recovery Console:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058
Here is additional information about the Recovery Console commands
you
will be using:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058