XP start up Problem......Help!!

ninjapilot · 18 Jul 2006 at 08:17

last night turned on the Pc and got greeted with this message failed to boot:

<windows root>\system32\hal.dll :confused:

obviously i have a corrupt file or somthing but not sure where to start so i can get it up and running, without reinstalling form scratch :eek:

any ideas please lads

cableguy2003 · 18 Jul 2006 at 11:08

Boot from windows CD , let it run , when it comes to first screen select the option to repair using the recovery console.

Enter 1 for the version of windows , then enter your administrator password , this is all DOS based btw.

Then type

chkdsk , to sort any file system problems
fixboot to replace the boot record
fixmbr to replace the master boot record

Might be worth doing the first 2 first and trying that , then coming back in to the recovery console to replace the MBR.

ninjapilot · 18 Jul 2006 at 11:47

Thanks cableguy for the help

, im @ work atm.
but will give this a go when i get in this eve

Cheers

Ninja

Edit: can i restart the system from dos or just press reset on the tower?

p0rks0da · 18 Jul 2006 at 14:03

Yeah you just type 'exit' and hit return after you're done from what i recall.

cableguy2003 · 18 Jul 2006 at 14:03

p0rks0da said:
Yeah you just type 'exit' and hit return after you're done from what i recall.

correct

ninjapilot · 18 Jul 2006 at 14:17

Great thanks a lot for the help guys, hope it sorts it

If not i might try a hammer

Ninja

ninjapilot · 19 Jul 2006 at 07:59

just an update:
didn't work lads unfortunatly......never mind, so i bit the bullet and done a fresh install. i think i might look into a slave drive or somthing to store important files on, what are the USB hard drives like any good? or would be easier and cheaper to just buy another hardrive?.....

Thanks

Ninja

Iceberg2 · 19 Jul 2006 at 08:28

Yeah getting a slave drive would be a good idea. However as well as doing that make sure you partition your hardrive (if you have not) so that no matter what happens to the windows partition you will still be able to retrive your data from the master with help from your new slave (Backup copy of windows). Nowadays you can pick an 80Gb for quite cheap. This should be used for your regular backups.
Thats how my pc is set up.

hp7909 · 19 Jul 2006 at 08:45

Just partition the disk! Keep XP on it's own partition & MOVE your documents to another partition, e.g...

MAIN (C) contains XP & programs;
STUFF_1 (D) is My Documents & Games;
& on second HD (Disk 1), BACKUP (I) contains a backup of C: & D: using Acronis True Image (free trial here)

EDIT: For partitioning (even after installing Windows) get Partition Magic or the excellent Acronis Disk Director Suite.

ninjapilot · 19 Jul 2006 at 09:18

Ok thanks for the info will take a look into doing that

Ninja

hp7909 · 19 Jul 2006 at 09:40

ninjapilot said:
Ok thanks for the info will take a look into doing that{snip}

On the MOVE thing, right click My Documents folder then click Properties, follow instructions properly (don't blame me if you loose your docs) :rolleyes:

bledd · 19 Jul 2006 at 13:34

personally i don't use partitions, i just buy more hard drives and use network mapped ones if keeping the same data on multiple partitions on the same drive as a 'backup' just isn't sensible...

icy boxes are cool too

have 2x 250gb drives for extra backup here

-edit, if you've got LOADS of data to backup from multiple folders, then use robocopy (command line) or Synctoy which are both made by Microsoft, both free and really good tools!

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Microsoft_SyncToy/1123084172/1

ninjapilot · 20 Jul 2006 at 08:04

ok will probably get another Hardrive and just set it as a slave drive, to store my important stuff thanks for all the info

Ninja