I think I really screwed up this time.
I was doing a test so I could help someone else.
What happened was I was checking how to get into the system recovery and clicked the wrong button, the "next" and boom, there it went saving user settings. I panicked and since nothing else got a response, I hit the power off button. Big mistake. Now, when trying to boot, I get the Hal.dll message. I have read the fix about the Hal.dll error posted in this forum, but I don't have the XP disc due to the fact that my system didn't come with one and I could never get the dvd to burn the restore discs. I do have a system restore disc from another laptop, and the problem unit will boot up using this disc, but it only gives the option of booting to D:\MiniNT which I assume is what is on the disc, but may be the recovery partition that is on the laptop because it was named D:\system restore. The other option on booting from this disc is doing the XP reinstall. It does not give me the option of a command prompt or any reference of the C:\ which was my main drive.
My question is, what now?
This is an HP dv5215us with amd athalon and 2gb mem. no floppy drive.
I read about going ahead with the reinstall and then getting to the point where the original main drive and OS will be recognized, but as I am already a little gun shy, I have not gone that far without asking someone.
Please let me know if more info is needed.
concerning the hal.dll fix
Re: concerning the hal.dll fix
Okay, I got brave/stupid and went ahead with the instructions from the sticky. I was able to install windows from the disc for the other laptop. I can now boot up the computer and see all files and folders on all drives.
The thing now is that the system32 file on the old installation is gone from the windows folder. Will it be safe to replace this entire folder with the system32 folder from the latest installation? The original was Media edition and the second is Home edition.
I tried booting to the original Windows installation but still get the Hal.dll missing error which is understandable since the entire folder is missing.
The thing now is that the system32 file on the old installation is gone from the windows folder. Will it be safe to replace this entire folder with the system32 folder from the latest installation? The original was Media edition and the second is Home edition.
I tried booting to the original Windows installation but still get the Hal.dll missing error which is understandable since the entire folder is missing.
Re: concerning the hal.dll fix
Okay, I was finally able to get the permissions reset so I can view and save all my personal files and photos and such, but I would still like to know if I can salvage the original OS. What will happen if I copy the system32 folder from the new install to the old one?
Re: concerning the hal.dll fix
One other thing, this unit had a recovery partition, D:\HP_RECOVERY, which appears to be intact. I can choose after choosing the R option and get to it when booting from the cd and get to a command prompt. I would assume that the system32 folder or the information to create it is somewhere in this partiton but how can I use it to restore the system32 folder?
I do see the system32 in the D:\MiniNT.
What is the method to use this partition to restore my original OS? Or at least the system32 folder. I can't get to the c:\ prompt from where the D:\ shows up and with xp booted I can't get into the D:\ from a command prompt so I don't think I can just copy.
I do see the system32 in the D:\MiniNT.
What is the method to use this partition to restore my original OS? Or at least the system32 folder. I can't get to the c:\ prompt from where the D:\ shows up and with xp booted I can't get into the D:\ from a command prompt so I don't think I can just copy.
Re: concerning the hal.dll fix
After doing a lot of searching and a hellofa lot of thinking, A light came on.
Since I installed the Home version of XP I am able to boot into the computer and since I figured out how to take permission for all files and folders, I went in this morning and clicked through the C:\ drive and found the short cut to the built in System Recovery. This is the same short cut that I clicked yesterday that started the whole problem. It is now in the process of the recovery. This is the same thing it was doing when I hit the power off which corrupted the files in the first place. I will let it run its course this time.
Fingers crossed, I will post the results and hope that no one else falls into this mess if they happen to see this post.
I know I will lose any and all programs that I have installed since new and I will have to spend all day doing Windows updates, but that is much better than the alternative.
I used a combination of several other peoples problems from several help forums to arrive at this solution. So, there is another fair amount of time posting results and thanks.
There is nothing like a computer and all the PtoP help forums on the internet for fixing a busted "puter".
I think it is ironic that you can get much more help from other peoples problems than you can from Microsoft or Manufactures.
Since I installed the Home version of XP I am able to boot into the computer and since I figured out how to take permission for all files and folders, I went in this morning and clicked through the C:\ drive and found the short cut to the built in System Recovery. This is the same short cut that I clicked yesterday that started the whole problem. It is now in the process of the recovery. This is the same thing it was doing when I hit the power off which corrupted the files in the first place. I will let it run its course this time.
Fingers crossed, I will post the results and hope that no one else falls into this mess if they happen to see this post.
I know I will lose any and all programs that I have installed since new and I will have to spend all day doing Windows updates, but that is much better than the alternative.
I used a combination of several other peoples problems from several help forums to arrive at this solution. So, there is another fair amount of time posting results and thanks.
There is nothing like a computer and all the PtoP help forums on the internet for fixing a busted "puter".
I think it is ironic that you can get much more help from other peoples problems than you can from Microsoft or Manufactures.
follow up
This has turned out to be much less painful than I had anticipated.
Everything is now back to normal. I didn't have to spend a great deal of time on the windows updates. I am thinking that they were saved somewhere as my personal files and data were. There was quite a bit of updating but nowhere near what I had expected. I was still in SP2 before any update.
I still have the other copy of windows xp in a separate file. I have not decided if I want to delete it or just leave it in case of a future problem. I do now have a copy of the restore discs burned now. Seems I had lost the one chance that Microsoft gives you to burn them. Since restoring my system I regained the ability and took advantage of it.
I didn't receive any direct help on this from any of the 7 or 8 forums I posted on but I still credit them for helping me fix this really bad situation since I used the search feature and found enough information to gain access and do the repair myself.
So thanks to everyone who posts here to help others.
Everything is now back to normal. I didn't have to spend a great deal of time on the windows updates. I am thinking that they were saved somewhere as my personal files and data were. There was quite a bit of updating but nowhere near what I had expected. I was still in SP2 before any update.
I still have the other copy of windows xp in a separate file. I have not decided if I want to delete it or just leave it in case of a future problem. I do now have a copy of the restore discs burned now. Seems I had lost the one chance that Microsoft gives you to burn them. Since restoring my system I regained the ability and took advantage of it.
I didn't receive any direct help on this from any of the 7 or 8 forums I posted on but I still credit them for helping me fix this really bad situation since I used the search feature and found enough information to gain access and do the repair myself.
So thanks to everyone who posts here to help others.
Re: concerning the hal.dll fix
Wow, I'm sorry your whole thread got missed, its not often a whole thread goes unnoticed on LR.
Glad you were able to get the problem sorted by yourself.
Dan
Glad you were able to get the problem sorted by yourself.
Dan
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crayoncrawler
- Legit Little One
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Re: concerning the hal.dll fix
although mooseyes eventually decided to use system recovery, i am also wondering if it is possible to just copy over drivers from a new installation to fix a bad OS.
for me, i keep getting BSODs with regular and safe boot which is probably due to a buggy driver. so lets say that i installed a new windows on the same computer with an xp SP2 installation disk. would copying over the fresh drivers be able to fix the buggy one and fix the BSODs as well?
for me, i keep getting BSODs with regular and safe boot which is probably due to a buggy driver. so lets say that i installed a new windows on the same computer with an xp SP2 installation disk. would copying over the fresh drivers be able to fix the buggy one and fix the BSODs as well?