statup disc question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike Hyndman
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Mike Hyndman

I've made an ms dos startup disc to allow me to transfer hall.dll onto a
failed XP installation (hangs looking for Hall.dll) But when I type the
C: prompt at the A: prompt I am told that C: is an invalid drive
specification I have tried this disc on a working installation and get
the same result.
any suggestions?
TIA
Mike Hyndman
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Windows XP is not based on MS-DOS, therefore there is no
MS-DOS to boot into. I would suggest performing a "repair install".

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Michael Stevens]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Mike Hyndman" wrote:

| I've made an ms dos startup disc to allow me to transfer hall.dll onto a
| failed XP installation (hangs looking for Hall.dll) But when I type the
| C: prompt at the A: prompt I am told that C: is an invalid drive
| specification I have tried this disc on a working installation and get
| the same result.
| any suggestions?
| TIA
| Mike Hyndman
 
Hi Mike,

A DOS boot disk can't write to an NTFS drive. You need to boot the WinXP CD
and load the Recovery Console, then copy or expand (which depends on the
file you are recovering) from the I386 folder to the proper folder on the
system drive.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Windows XP is not based on MS-DOS, therefore there is no
MS-DOS to boot into. I would suggest performing a "repair install".
Click to expand...
So what is the point of a "make ms dos start up disc" in the format
option?
How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
Click to expand...
Looks like it was unable to install the Hall.dll first time around
(therefore Windows inaccessible) due to file corruption/damage or just
sheer bloody mindedness (more likely!) so the CD wont help.
This why I was trying to install a copy from another drive.
Not having a good day.

Many thanks Carey
Regards
Mike H
[Courtesy of MS-MVP Michael Stevens]
Click to expand...

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As others noted, Recovery Console from a standard XP install CD will give
access to the drive.
Note however, if you are referring to Hal.dll (I'm assuming a probably
typo), this cannot simply be copied that way. The Hardware Abstraction
Layer is built during the Windows install process and is customized to your
hardware. You will have to do a repair reinstallation.
 
I've made an ms dos startup disc to allow me to transfer hall.dll onto a
failed XP installation (hangs looking for Hall.dll) But when I type the
C: prompt at the A: prompt I am told that C: is an invalid drive
specification I have tried this disc on a working installation and get
the same result.
any suggestions?
Click to expand...

This article has some additional info about a failed start due to a missing
or corrupt hal.dll file:

Error Message: Windows Could Not Start Because of a Computer Disk Hardware Configuration Problem
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=314477
 
As far as I know, you may only read a hard drive from a
boot disk IF the hard drive is formatted FAT32

If the hard drive is formatted NTFS a boot disk will not
allow you to access the hard drive

Windows XP is not based on MS-DOS, therefore there is no
MS-DOS to boot into. I would suggest performing a "repair install".
Click to expand...
So what is the point of a "make ms dos start up disc" in the format
option?
How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
Click to expand...
Looks like it was unable to install the Hall.dll first time around
(therefore Windows inaccessible) due to file corruption/damage or just
sheer bloody mindedness (more likely!) so the CD wont help.
This why I was trying to install a copy from another drive.
Not having a good day.

Many thanks Carey
Regards
Mike H
[Courtesy of MS-MVP Michael Stevens]
Click to expand...

remove -bats- to reply
Click to expand...


John Thomas Smith
http://www.direct2usales.com
http://www.pacifier.com/~jtsmith
 
In
John Thomas Smith said:
As far as I know, you may only read a hard drive from a
boot disk IF the hard drive is formatted FAT32

If the hard drive is formatted NTFS a boot disk will not
allow you to access the hard drive
Click to expand...


A slight clarification here: The second sentence above is true
(mostly, but see below), but the first isn't. You can read a hard
drive after booting from an MS-DOS diskette if the if the hard
drive is some version of FAT (not necessarily FAT32), *and* that
boot diskette contains a version of DOS that supports the flavor
of FAT the hard drive contains (earlier DOS versions supported
only FAT12 and FAT16, not FAT32).

It's also important to realize that there is third-party software
(such as NTFSDOS) that can let you access NTFS drives from DOS.
 
This article has some additional info about a failed start due to a missing
or corrupt hal.dll file:

Error Message: Windows Could Not Start Because of a Computer Disk Hardware Configuration Problem
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=314477
Click to expand...
Thanks to all,

I ended up sitting in the sun with a couple of beers. when I came back I
started from scratch, reformatted the drive and the installation went
through OK. God only knows why it didn't work the first time.
One of life's little mysteries......
Off for more beer, it's POETS day!
MH
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