TCH-Thomas Posted March 21, 2004 Posted March 21, 2004 A friend (computer illiterate) called me today and yelled help. She had done some cleaning up in her system, mostly downloaded stuff as i understood. Then when she is starting up her computer again she meets this message: \system32\hal.dll. Nothing more nothing less. I ask her to look for a blinking cursor so we can copy the missing hal file to her system but she see nothing. I tell her to reboot, insert recovery cd (this was an preinstalled xp version) and basically anything i can come up with. Recovery cd´s splash screen blinks for a few moments then the above message shows up again. What to do? Any help greatly appreciated. Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted March 21, 2004 Posted March 21, 2004 Maybe this will help: http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm Quote
TCH-Thomas Posted March 21, 2004 Author Posted March 21, 2004 Thanks Bruce. I did a search on google, this one did not show up as a result. I only got one result but no info on that. Quote
TCH-Thomas Posted March 21, 2004 Author Posted March 21, 2004 Ive read that page now, but i dont think it will help cause as i understood her on phone she can not boot or atleast this message is all that shows up. After that it is just dead. Good thing is that she is on her way over to my place with the computer so i can take a look on it and then i will know if she missunderstood me with my boot-questions/instructions. Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted March 21, 2004 Posted March 21, 2004 Hmm, here are a couple more links that may help. http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000490.htm http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/14666/ http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Q_20885225.html Good luck! Quote
Madmanmcp Posted March 21, 2004 Posted March 21, 2004 If they cannot boot from the recovery CD and continue to get this error, they will probably have to change the "boot order". You need to enter system setup and make sure it boots to the CD first and the hard drive second. Usually when the system is starting up it tells you what key to hit to get into this area. Quote
TCH-Thomas Posted March 21, 2004 Author Posted March 21, 2004 Thanks Madmanmcp I am getting my hands on this computer later tonight (my time) so i thought of doing that if needed. Me and my friends conversation (about this) has been over phone so far, so and (i hate to say this... ) she is worse than me on these things, so i think the situation is not so bad as it sounds on her. I mean some cleaning up files can not make the computer unbootable as far as i know. Or can it? That windows will not run i understand, but not unbootable. Quote
Madmanmcp Posted March 21, 2004 Posted March 21, 2004 I mean some cleaning up files can not make the computer unbootable as far as i know. Or can it? welllll, yes simple things "can" cause complex problems What it sounds like here is that you have a corrupted file, the "boot.ini" which is used to tell the computer what drive or partition to use as the boot drive. This file is a very simple text file (haha, I use simple loosly here since it is not easy to understand if read) and is read first by the computer to tell it where to go. Quote
TCH-Thomas Posted March 21, 2004 Author Posted March 21, 2004 welllll, yes simple things "can" cause complex problems Now you scare me a little. But im ok with that. We just have to wait and see how big problems she actually does have. If you dont see me in here for a couple of days, i am on a thank you dinner with her on a restaurant, melting in to her eyes or if you see a heeeeeeeeelp-message in here from me you know i am stuck in gate$ world. Quote
Madmanmcp Posted March 21, 2004 Posted March 21, 2004 Well knowing computers I know you'll be back There are probably two ways to fix this: Easy way...fix/replace the boot.ini Hard way...fix/replace the boot.ini Quote
TCH-Thomas Posted March 21, 2004 Author Posted March 21, 2004 Agrees on that 100% I see it as this though: Easy way...fix/kick it out the window (but its not my computer so its out of the question) Hard way...fix/replace the boot.ini, installing good antivirus, firewall, spyware tools... Quote
TCH-Thomas Posted March 24, 2004 Author Posted March 24, 2004 Ok, back from restoring this computer. First of all, I and Pamilla would like to say thanks everyone involved in this. Thumbs Up The computer didnt let me do anything but to run the factory-recovery cd. After that the long process of installing all programs started. It took time but now its done and all precautions (that can be taken) is taken to not have this disaster to happen again. Again, thanks anyone (Now im soon off for some sleep) Quote
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