Startup Problem with ntoskrnl.exe

[Guest]

I've been having increasing problems restarting Windows 2000. First I would
get a screen saying: Stop blah blah application failed....and then telling me
to restart.

Then it just stoped at the Starting Windows progress bar and said:
Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupted:
<windows2000 root>\system32\hal.dll

Now it stops at the same screen and says ntoskrnl.exe instead of hal.dll

I tried restarting in Safe Mode but had the same problem, and now I can't
even do that. The files on this laptop are fairly critical for the immediate
future, so any help would be greatl appreciated.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I've been having increasing problems restarting Windows 2000. First I would
get a screen saying: Stop blah blah application failed....and then telling me
to restart.

Then it just stoped at the Starting Windows progress bar and said:
Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupted:
<windows2000 root>\system32\hal.dll

Now it stops at the same screen and says ntoskrnl.exe instead of hal.dll

I tried restarting in Safe Mode but had the same problem, and now I can't
even do that. The files on this laptop are fairly critical for the immediate
future, so any help would be greatl appreciated.

If I was in your position then I would do this:

1. Consider why the machine suffered the progressive damage you describe.
Virus infection? Lack of a firewall? Spyware? Running freeware
downloaded
from the net? Playing downloaded games? All of the above are known to
cause damage.

2. Perform a parallel installation of Win2000, into a folder other than
c:\WinNT.

3. Ask myself why the rule "Back up all important files to an independent
medium at least once each week" should hold for everyone else except me.

If my data files were extremely important and if their loss could cause
massive problems then I would manufacture a Bart PE boot CD
(http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download), boot with this CD, then
back up all irreplaceable files to a networked machine before attempting
any repair activity. I would consider the extra work as a timely reminder
to review my previous backup policy.