I've tried all this, and the respond I get is "Access is denied."
Anyone know how else I can go about repairing this problem?
Thanks.
Tim Meddick said:
You have to start your PC with the XP cd-rom install disk, if you have
one.
Then, when you come to the screen with the following option displayed :
To repair a Windows XP installation using
Recovery Console, press R.
Then press [R] to start 'Recovery Console'
When confronted by a prompt asking you for Administrator password - just
press [ENTER]
Once in RC has started - type the following command :
expand x:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32\hal.dll
(where [x:] is your cd drive-letter)
*NB If SP3 is installed - then the command you type must be :
copy c:\windows\ServicePackFiles\i386\hal.dll c:\windows\system32
....instead, as the files are of two different revision levels
(versions).
Then reboot.
Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.
What ever happened to Tim of Peckham?
That advice is not particularly sound and the problem is unlikely to
be a missing or corrupt hal.ddl - more like the boot.ini needs
fixing. It is a fair guess I suppose given the error message, but it
is just a guess.
It is almost as annoying as someone telling you what they think the
problem might be maybe or could be possibly and then not offering
advice on how to fix it.
Did you experienced a power failure prior to this issue?
Do you have a genuine bootable XP installation CD with which to boot
the XP Recovery Console?
If you do not, make a bootable XP Recovery Console CD and when that is
working you can work on fixing your issue.
You can make a bootable Recovery Console CD by downloading an ISO file
and burning it to a 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 a 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:\WINDOWS 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 on the drive
where
Windows is installed to try to repair any problems on the afflicted
drive.
Running chkdsk is fine to run even if it doesn't find any problems.
Assuming your boot drive is C, run the following command:
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.
Before rebuiling your boot.ini file, read these articles:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291980
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477