recovery console failure

[William Patrick]

Does anyone know what to do if after loading the reinstall CD and hitting r
to go into recovery console you get any error message concern the system's
registry may not have an active controlset key? I am confused as to how to
repair windows at this point of the game. Thanks for your help.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

What problems are you having that you think a Repair Install might resolve,
William?

 

[William Patrick]

I first started with an video error message when watching live TV on my XP
MCE 05. I was downloading the Microsoft Malicious Removal tool and
Malwarebytes to check for virus, then I got the blue screen that said
<windows root>\system32\hal.dll. was missing or corrupt, please reinstall
file. After reading some forums I then proceeded to load my reinstall cd to
get to the recovery console to repair windows when the third error message
came up for the system registry does not appear to have an active controlset
key. Registry may be damaged. Dell said they can repair, reload Windows and
save all my data for $130.00 I would love not to have to pay them one cent.
Any thoughts?

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

If it were my computer, I'd back-up my personal data then format the HDD &
do a clean install (just as Dell offered to do for you at a fairly
reasonable price IMHO).

 

[William Patrick]

Thank you for your insight. Can someone at Microsoft do the same thing for me
or should I stay with Dell? I am not sure of how to backup my data when
windows doesn't even start for me and I have never formatted the drive
before? Nothing I could not teach myself, but There is some important data
there I can not lose.

 

[Malke]

Thank you for your insight. Can someone at Microsoft do the same thing for
me or should I stay with Dell? I am not sure of how to backup my data when
windows doesn't even start for me and I have never formatted the drive
before? Nothing I could not teach myself, but There is some important data
there I can not lose.

Unless you live in the Back Of Beyond, you'd be better off having a local
tech do it for you, someone you can speak to and get a feel for yourself.
Someone you will trust to back up your data first and afterwards teach you
how to back up your data yourself. Don't use a BigComputerStore/GeekSquad
type of place. Get recommendations from family, friends, or colleagues.

Malke

 

[William Patrick]

Thanks for the Insight. Will do as instructed and go forward with a clean
system.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

What Malke said. Just make sure the shop uses the CDs that came with your
Dell computer or the hidden Recovery partition to do the clean install. And
insist that the shop gets the computer fully patched and a valid,
fully-updated & fully-functional antivirus application installed before you
accept delivery (and pay the bill).

PS: Pay the bill with a major credit card, too, just in case.