windows xp won't start up

peterflln

:mad:hi,i'm am in a spot of bother,i seem to have deleted a system file(Windows root\system32\hal.dll)and now windows wont start.i have a iqon pc and didn't recieve an installation disc with the pc so i can't repair it via the disc.i tried a friends xp disc but it wont give me the option to repair it,only to install it again,which i don't want to do as it requires formatting the hd,which i don't want to do as i will lose all my files.i was thinking of putting my hd in my mates pc and use it as a slave to try and salvage my files,is this a complecated job and will it work,or has anyone any other solutions.thanking you in advance for your help;)

Feelgood

You don't have to re format the drive to install Windows again, when it asks you which drive partition you want to install to just select the current Windows partition and then select "Leave the current file system intact". That should leave all your files on the drive, though you will probably have to reinstall a lot of your software such as Office etc...

R3al

peterflln wrote: »

:mad:hi,i'm am in a spot of bother,i seem to have deleted a system file(Windows root\system32\hal.dll)and now windows wont start.;)

This is probably being caused by a missing/corrupt hal.dll file or a missing/corrupt boot.ini file

Repair boot.ini:

Use your friends XP disk to start the recovery console (choose R at the menu)If it prompts you for an admin password the chances are this is going to be blank unless you have changed it yourself.

enter the follwoing command

bootcfg /list
this will show the current boot.ini file or return an error if none is detected

BootCfg /Rebuild
this will scan your disk for the XP installation follow the prompts to rebuild the boot.ini file
Add installation to boot list?
Y
Enter Load Identifier:
Windows XP Professional or Windows XP Home Edition (depending on your version)
Enter OS Load options:
/Fastdetect

hit enter and then type exit to reboot the PC




Repair hal.dll:

A backup copy of the hal.dll is stored in c:\windows\ServicePackFiles\i386
if you can slave the drive to another drive you will be able to copy that file to c:\windows\system32 (you will need to go into TOOLs -> FOLDER OPTIONS and check Show Hidden Files and Folders and uncheck Hide Protected Operating system Files to see these files)

Alternatively

Use your friends XP disk to start the recovery console (choose R at the menu)
If it prompts you for an admin password the chances are this is going to be blank unless you have changed it yourself.

A copy of the hal.dll is held on the i386 folder on the CD

Carry out the following commands

(as you have already deleted the original hal.dll file there is no point making a back up copy or moving it to a tmp folder)

expand d:\i386\hal.dll c:\windows\system32\hal.dll (where d is the drive letter of your dvd drive - so you may need to change this as appropriate)
then type exit
the pc will then reboot

robo

I am having the same problem and I followed R3al's commands and it worked, I could start Windows, I copied the hal.dll file and over wrote the existing one. Worked grand...except when I restart my laptop, same issue! I gotta go through the commands again even though I replaced the hal.dll file!
What am I doing wrong??? Why is this error still coming up? Any help greatly appreciated.

R3al - thanks so far for the help.

dubfir

From the cmd prompt ....regsvr32 c:\windows\system32 \hal.dll

robo

Thanks Dubfir, but when I do that I get the error -

LoadLibrary("c:\windows\system32\hal.dll") failed - Invalid access to memory location

What should I do now?

F1reddog

robo wrote: »

Thanks Dubfir, but when I do that I get the error -
What should I do now?

Hi Did you try using the "last know good configuration option" so when windows is booting, hit F8 a couple of times, and when it presents you the menu of boot options, choose last know good configuration.

This doesnt always work, but its worth mentioning.

gamer

try reboot ,hold down f8,safe mode, directory services restore mode,that should fix boot files enough to boot up in safe mode.

robo

Neither worked...with F8.

Any other ideas...other than reinstall windows, I am trying to avoid that, but I can do it if I need to.

dubfir

Try from the cmd prompt... sfc /scannow and check out this site if u hit probs
http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html