Problems with boot, recovery

  • Thread starter Thread starter Christoph
  • Start date Start date
C

Christoph

I'm not sure exactly what got me to this point but now, whenever I try to
boot into XP (Safe mode, Safe with Networking, Safe with Command Prompt,
Normally), I'm getting an error saying that

c:\windows\system32\hal.dll

is missing or corrupt. Ok, fine, I just stick my XP installation disc in
the drive, start up with it, and go to the recovery console to try to pull a
fresh copy off the disc. I copy the original file on my HD to hal.dll.old
and expand the version on the disc into the system32 directory. I see that
the file from the disc is 3 years old and approx 20k larger than the file on
my HD, but that's not terribly surprising because I was running XP SP2. But
that makes me think there still might be issues during boot because the file
I just put onto the HD was not from SP2.

When I next try to reboot, I get the same error. I'm not terribly surprised
but I had hoped that it would work. One thing I must point out at this
stage is that when I was working in the recovery console, I could see the
contents of my hard drive. I could see the directories, navigate through
some of them (most notably my windows directory) and see what files were in
those directories. I even ran chkdsk /r while in the recovery console just
to make sure there weren't other more serious problems. Nothing showed up.

At this point, I figure I'll just do a repair install. So I again boot
using the CD but this time choose to "Set up Windows XP now". I hit F8 to
agree and am given a list of existing partitions. What I'm seeing is:

"38155 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]

C: Partition1 (CDRIVE) [NTFS] 38154 MB (12468 MB free)"

Everything looks as it should. The "C: Partition1" is highlighted as
expected and I press "ENTER" to select that partition onto which XP should
install. When I do, however, I get an error message saying

"Windows XP cannot recognize the partition you selected.

Setup cannot install Windows XP on this partition. However, you can go back
to the previous screen, delete the partition, and then select the resulting
unpartitioned space. Setup will then create a new partition on which you
can install Windows XP".

I don't understand why I'm being presented with that message. It is seeing
the partition on the previous screen as one I can select. If the setup
doesn't recognize the selected partition, how is it even in the list in the
first place. Additionally, if there was something wrong with the partition,
how is it that I am able to navigate through and see the files/directories
within that partition while in the recovery console?

Normally, I would just wipe out the partition, create a new one and do a
fresh install. But there are files that are on the drive that I don't have
any where else. And since I can't copy them out using the recovery console,
I need to get to them some other way. Safe mode would suffice but I can't
even boot up that way due to the hal.dll error.

So, is there something I can do to get XP setup to "recognize" that
partition? Why is it that setup can recognize the partition in one place
but not another? And why is the recovery console working with the partition
just fine but setup cannot?

Help?

thnx,
Christoph
 
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283421 maybe?

Christoph said:
I'm not sure exactly what got me to this point but now, whenever I try to
boot into XP (Safe mode, Safe with Networking, Safe with Command Prompt,
Normally), I'm getting an error saying that

c:\windows\system32\hal.dll

is missing or corrupt. Ok, fine, I just stick my XP installation disc in
the drive, start up with it, and go to the recovery console to try to pull
a fresh copy off the disc. I copy the original file on my HD to
hal.dll.old and expand the version on the disc into the system32
directory. I see that the file from the disc is 3 years old and approx
20k larger than the file on my HD, but that's not terribly surprising
because I was running XP SP2. But that makes me think there still might
be issues during boot because the file I just put onto the HD was not from
SP2.

When I next try to reboot, I get the same error. I'm not terribly
surprised but I had hoped that it would work. One thing I must point out
at this stage is that when I was working in the recovery console, I could
see the contents of my hard drive. I could see the directories, navigate
through some of them (most notably my windows directory) and see what
files were in those directories. I even ran chkdsk /r while in the
recovery console just to make sure there weren't other more serious
problems. Nothing showed up.

At this point, I figure I'll just do a repair install. So I again boot
using the CD but this time choose to "Set up Windows XP now". I hit F8 to
agree and am given a list of existing partitions. What I'm seeing is:

"38155 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]

C: Partition1 (CDRIVE) [NTFS] 38154 MB (12468 MB free)"

Everything looks as it should. The "C: Partition1" is highlighted as
expected and I press "ENTER" to select that partition onto which XP should
install. When I do, however, I get an error message saying

"Windows XP cannot recognize the partition you selected.

Setup cannot install Windows XP on this partition. However, you can go
back to the previous screen, delete the partition, and then select the
resulting unpartitioned space. Setup will then create a new partition on
which you can install Windows XP".

I don't understand why I'm being presented with that message. It is
seeing the partition on the previous screen as one I can select. If the
setup doesn't recognize the selected partition, how is it even in the list
in the first place. Additionally, if there was something wrong with the
partition, how is it that I am able to navigate through and see the
files/directories within that partition while in the recovery console?

Normally, I would just wipe out the partition, create a new one and do a
fresh install. But there are files that are on the drive that I don't
have any where else. And since I can't copy them out using the recovery
console, I need to get to them some other way. Safe mode would suffice
but I can't even boot up that way due to the hal.dll error.

So, is there something I can do to get XP setup to "recognize" that
partition? Why is it that setup can recognize the partition in one place
but not another? And why is the recovery console working with the
partition just fine but setup cannot?

Help?

thnx,
Christoph
Click to expand...
 
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283421 maybe?

I'm not at all sure how XP is seeing it as a "dynamic disk". First, I'm not
at all sure what is meant by that but more importantly, second it is the
partition XP itself create when last I installed it onto that (internal) HD.

The KB indicates that another possibility as cause for the error is that the
disc is corrupted or unrecognizable. I suppose that's a possibility but if
so, how was I able to access the disc via the recovery console, navigate
through it's directories and see files within those directories if it was
corrupted?

thnx,
Christoph
 
Christoph said:
I'm not sure exactly what got me to this point but now, whenever I try to
boot into XP (Safe mode, Safe with Networking, Safe with Command Prompt,
Normally), I'm getting an error saying that

c:\windows\system32\hal.dll

is missing or corrupt. Ok, fine, I just stick my XP installation disc in
the drive, start up with it, and go to the recovery console to try to pull a
fresh copy off the disc. I copy the original file on my HD to hal.dll.old
and expand the version on the disc into the system32 directory. I see that
the file from the disc is 3 years old and approx 20k larger than the file on
my HD, but that's not terribly surprising because I was running XP SP2. But
that makes me think there still might be issues during boot because the file
I just put onto the HD was not from SP2.

When I next try to reboot, I get the same error. I'm not terribly surprised
but I had hoped that it would work. One thing I must point out at this
stage is that when I was working in the recovery console, I could see the
contents of my hard drive. I could see the directories, navigate through
some of them (most notably my windows directory) and see what files were in
those directories. I even ran chkdsk /r while in the recovery console just
to make sure there weren't other more serious problems. Nothing showed up.

At this point, I figure I'll just do a repair install. So I again boot
using the CD but this time choose to "Set up Windows XP now". I hit F8 to
agree and am given a list of existing partitions. What I'm seeing is:

"38155 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]

C: Partition1 (CDRIVE) [NTFS] 38154 MB (12468 MB free)"

Everything looks as it should. The "C: Partition1" is highlighted as
expected and I press "ENTER" to select that partition onto which XP should
install. When I do, however, I get an error message saying

"Windows XP cannot recognize the partition you selected.

Setup cannot install Windows XP on this partition. However, you can go back
to the previous screen, delete the partition, and then select the resulting
unpartitioned space. Setup will then create a new partition on which you
can install Windows XP".

I don't understand why I'm being presented with that message. It is seeing
the partition on the previous screen as one I can select. If the setup
doesn't recognize the selected partition, how is it even in the list in the
first place. Additionally, if there was something wrong with the partition,
how is it that I am able to navigate through and see the files/directories
within that partition while in the recovery console?

Normally, I would just wipe out the partition, create a new one and do a
fresh install. But there are files that are on the drive that I don't have
any where else. And since I can't copy them out using the recovery console,
I need to get to them some other way. Safe mode would suffice but I can't
even boot up that way due to the hal.dll error.

So, is there something I can do to get XP setup to "recognize" that
partition? Why is it that setup can recognize the partition in one place
but not another? And why is the recovery console working with the partition
just fine but setup cannot?

Help?

thnx,
Christoph
Click to expand...

Try to rebuild the boot.ini by doing this command line:

Attrib -H -R -S C:\boot.ini
DEL C:\boot.ini
to remove the bad boot.ini
BootCfg /Rebuild

Make sure the HDD is okay by running a test for it, download the diagnostic
tools from the HDD manufacturer website.

Error Message: Cannot Find \Windows\System32\hal.dll
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm
"HAL - Hardware Abstraction Layer"
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_h.htm

How Do I Repair A Missing Or Corrupt HAL.DLL
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_repair_a_missing_or_cor.htm

repair install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

steps:
Boot up with your CD in the CD ROM and when you presented with Windows Setup
Options:
1- Install Windows
2- Repair existing copy
3- Quit
Select 2 by Pressing R on your keyboard, on the Command Prompt type:
C:\Windows>CD.. Hit [Enter..] on your Keyboard
on the new Prompt type this:
C:\>
copy X:\i386\ntldr c:\ where X is the Drive Letter for your CD-Rom
copy X:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\ " " "
Please type one at a time click/Hit [Enter..]
You may need to rebuild your Boot.ini type this on the Prompt:
C:\>Boot.ini click Enter and you will see your Boot.ini you can Edit it or
if was intact leave as is, the boot.ini will look like this, be aware this
for XP Home so if you have XP pro:
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect
You will get Boot Indentifier: Enter this " Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition"
Boot Loader: Enter this" /fastdetect"
When you finished type: reboot
HTH.
nass
 
In recovery console you should only have access to the root folder and the
SystemRoot folder, are you saying you have access to others?
You can copy files to another hd, within the console
If indeed you have a dynamic disk it could have been converted to such.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309044

You could also download / create the HD makers bootable testing utility
 
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