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Well this sucks

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dodge8604

dodge8604

Technical User
Nov 30, 2005
118
US
Okay, I was playin Call Of Duty 2 and my comp. crashed.

When I rebooted, it said I needed to reinstall my HAL file.

How in the world do I do that? I know this is a simple question but I really need help, finals are coming soon and I need it up and running ASAP!

Thanks in Advance!
 
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Boot from the XP CD and enter Recovery Console.
Type:

attrib -s -h -r C:\boot.ini
bootcfg /Rebuild
fixboot C:
exit


____________________________
Users Helping Users
 
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In addition to what bcaster has suggested, when the system is up and runing again I would run a Chkdsk just to make sure the hard disk is ok (and not on it's way out). I had a similar problem with my PC and it was the hard disk failing that caused it. Might not be in your case but better to be sure...

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"Insert funny comment in here!"
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Well after I typed this message I found out somethings.

Not good things at all but basically my hard drive is not being recognized AT ALL. I've had trouble with this hard drive and this problem before. Is it possible to get all my information onto another hard drive without reinstalling everything????

Thanks in advance!
 
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Also, when the BIOS posts, it recognizes the hard drive, but when I try to get into the recovery console it tells me that I have no hard drive connected and tells me to check my connections....which I did.

The power runs to it but my SATA cable seems a little loose. I'll be running to Microcenter to see what hardware I can conjure up to maybe get a better connection but we'll see.

Thanks again!
 
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put the drive in a different computer as a slave and see if you can get the data off it.
 
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LOL SATA....make sure the affected drive is not the boot drive in the BIOS...smak! (my head) you don't primary/slave SATA drives....
 
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Well how do I do that?

Basically I would like to get all my information put onto a different HDD without having to reinstall everything, basically cuz I lost half the CDs to everything.......
 
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Are you pressing F6 (to load any SATA drivers) when asked to by the Recovery Console?

When the Recovery Console starts, you have the opportunity to press F6 to install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver, in case you need such a driver to access the hard disk. This prompt works the same as it does during installation of the operating system.

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP
 
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Well its kinda useless now. Nothing works because you can't enter the Recovery Console and you can't try to install on another drive if it will not recognize ANY HDD i put in there(yes I bought a new one)

So im getting my old RMA motherboard back and starting over.

Thanks!
 
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Okay well I found out that my Gigabyte motherboard needed to have the SATA drivers installed before it would read my SATA HDDs. I installed them so that clears that obstacle but I still cannot get my Hal.dll file back. I have researched and tried about 4 different methods to do this and none have worked.

My closest(I think) has been to install windows on my new HDD and then copy the new installations hal file and paste it onto my other SATA HDD(the messed up one) as in, going into it as a removable drive. But that didn't work because the correct place for my to copy the hal file to isn't on my older HDD. THere is no e:\windows\system32 folder on it and I enabled the view of all the folders. Still couldn't find it? Can anyone give me a link on how to get my hal file back or can someone tell me how to?

THanks!
 
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Now that you have loaded the SATA drivers, what is the exact error message you are getting at boot up?

What is the hard drive configuration (drive lettering) of this machine?

Which partition is Windows installed on? What is E: drive used for? Do you now have more than one Windows installed on this machine (dual booting)?

Can you access the Boot.ini file (open it with Notepad) and post a text copy of that?



HELP! missing hal.dll, no access to root
thread779-752222

Error Message Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.

330184 - "Invalid Boot.ini" or "Windows Could Not Start" Error Messages When You Start Your Computer
Error Message: Windows Could Not Start Because of a Computer Disk Hardware Configuration Problem

The following two paragraphs are quoted from -


"NTLDR clears the screen and prints its version information: OSLOADER V4.0. The first two files that NTLDR loads make up NT's core: ntoskrnl.exe and hal.dll. Both files are located in the <winnt>\system32 directory. Ntoskrnl.exe contains the Kernel and Executive subsystems (e.g., Memory Manager, Cache Manager, Object Manager), and hal.dll contains code that interfaces NT to the computer hardware. Hardware abstraction layers (HALs) can provide interfaces to proprietary hardware, so Microsoft makes it possible for OEMs to supply custom HAL files. If NTLDR fails to load either of these files, it prints the message Windows NT could not start because the following file was missing or corrupt, followed by the name of the file.

Now the user has the option to select the Last Known Good configuration by pressing the spacebar. After a successful boot completes, NT makes a copy of the Registry tree that contains static and dynamic system and driver configuration information, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet, and marks it as the Last Known Good configuration. Because device drivers load based on information under the Services Registry key, this key is especially crucial. If a driver installs and at the next reboot prevents the system from starting, when the user selects the Last Known Good configuration, NT reverts to using the copy of the Registry tree that existed before the driver installed. Because the good copy does not include commands to load the driver, a boot using that copy will likely succeed."

315222 - A Description of the Safe Mode Boot Options in Windows XP



From this site -

BOOTIT NG

"If the BOOT.INI file does not point to the correct boot entry for Windows XP, you will get an error stating that Hal.Dll is missing . Simply correct the partition(x) entry in the BOOT.INI file or reorder the partitions in the MBR Details section of the boot item configuration."

A lot of info and ideas to be found there.


How to Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start Windows XP (Q314079)


Have a look under "H" for Hal at this site too.
 
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Apparently there are two threads dodge is working at the same time. Here's the other for more info on what's been suggested:

[navy]New Mobo?[/navy]
thread749-1300258

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
 
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Well, some of the methods I have tried have done nothing except for install more OS on my old HDD.

I now have 3 OS on my old HDD.

How do I delete them? I've done it before a loooong time ago but I have no clue how to do it now.

thanks!
 
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Well somewhat of a breakthrough.

I did this:
And after I did it and rebooted from that HDD I got this message:

Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.
Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware.
Please check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware referance manuals for additional information.

Question is, what can I do from here? I guess you could say that I "kind of" understand what that message means.

help?

THanks again guys!
 
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Use Recovery Console.
From Recovery Console:

attrib -s -s -r C:\boot.ini
bootcfg /Rebuild
fixmbr C:
fixboot C:

exit



____________________________
Users Helping Users
 
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Well again nothing is working. I've tried everything that I've been told to do, and I've done it as accurately as possible. It just keeps me at a dead end and I really dont want to just reinstall windows because I will then have to buy a product key from windows because I've used mine before and I'll have to rebuy a few of my games and I'll have to rebuy Norton. That amounts to about $250 that i dont have to spend on that stuff so for me it is pretty much no choice for me to HAVE to get this back. I have used the live chat support before and they fixed my computer from their location without coming here, not sure I'll be able to have that happen now but I really have no choice I have to get this HDD back up and running. Anyone know any free or cheap live chat support sites???

THanks for the help.
 
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Are you saying your product ID is on another computer right now?
" will then have to buy a product key from windows because I've used mine before "

here is a link to a forum with a pretty good process for getting the ID key off a non boot system
you do need to join the forum to see the replies


I don't think that will help if you have loaded to another machine
 
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