Hal.dll

Well, I was playing around with my partitions and now, when I tried to boot my Gaming partition it wants me to reinstall the hal.dll file.

There's one in Windows\System32\ but I'm not sure if that's the right one. Also, how do I go about replacing it?

 

You don't just replace it.

The HAL is the underlying layer between the OS and the hardware.


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477

Assuming XP, because you never mentioned.

 

Sorry, yes, it's XP.

I started up using the disc and went into repair mode; however, when I select the correct partition it asks for a password and I don't have one.

 

Did you try hitting ENTER, without inputting a password?

 

Yes and I tried the passwords I would've used if there was one but they didn't work. I also tried some of the default p/w's.

 

I just so happen to have something I wrote up on this issue.


Inside of Windows 2k/XP/2003, navigate to the registry editor.

Start, run, and type:

regedit

Hit ENTER.


This will bring up the registry editor.

Navigate to this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Setup\RecoveryConsole

Look for a setting to the right called SecurityLevel.

Double click it to modify it and set the value to a 1.

Now the Recovery Console will not ask for a password the next time you use it.

However, in your case, you will need to boot into your working install, load up regedit, and then go to the File menu and load a hive.

You need to load the software hive from your broken installation. It will be located in %systemroot%/system32/config/software hive.

Note, %systemeroot% is the default directory windows resides in on the BROKEN install.

Once you make the changes, make certain that you export the hive to save the edit.

 

How do I get onto my broken drive and load up regedit to do all the hive things?

 

I already told you in my previous post.

 

There isn't a 'software hive' directory or file. There's two software files though, one is just a 'File', the other is a '.sav'.

 

It has no extension, its just called Software.

 

What do I load the hive on?

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

etc etc?

 

Hkey_local_machine

 

Do I put in a key name?

I got:

Cannot Load F:\Windows\System32\config\software: Error while loading hive.

 

Might wanna do a chkdsk /r on that drive then.

 

Where do I do that from?

 

Do it from within the working OS, on the broken partition/drive.

 

"Access Denied as you do not have sufficient privileges. You have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode." :cry

 

If you are using a cmd.exe prompt, run it as amin. The easiest way is to go to start, all programs, accessories, rgith click command prompt, choose run as administrator. You can do this with any program you are using.

 

It said there were no problems.

 

How should I continue?

 

That's what I got from the chkdsk /r command.

 

Bump.

 

If you don't resolve your problem with the Windows password,try this:

http://www.password-reset.com/index.php

And then this:

http://icrontic.com/articles/repair_windows_xp

I hope that this will help you to solve the problem.

 

Okay. It took me awhile to get around to it.

I reset the password and had no problems with that aspect of fixing the boot.ini file. When I went to repair with the Windows XP Disc the guide I was given said I had to do a few things:

ATTRIB -H C:\\boot.ini
ATTRIB -S C:\\boot.ini
ATTRIB -R C:\\boot.ini
del boot.ini
BOOTCFG /Rebuild
CHKDSK /R
FIXBOOT

I did all of those even though the partition I had problems with was the G drive. Now, when I boot up I have another partition I can boot into (it's not actually another partition it is just listed as one). It is meant to boot into G:;however, it boots into C:. I haven't played around with the boot.ini file before so I just opened it in Notepad and corrected the boot path of that new listed partition to the G drive. This didn't change a thing and it is still booting C.

I also had Vista installed and now since the boot.ini file was replaced it doesn't let me boot into Vista anymore.

:mad :tired

 

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=139398
The answer is here.Good Luck!!!

 

Oh, that's a great program, thanks.

The program; however, can not edit the Boot.ini file. There's an option for it but when you make any modifications to it, obviously, it wants you to save but there is no where to save it too (no default save location despite the file being opened). When you try to overwrite the boot.ini file on C: it doesn't change anything.

How do I boot into G:?

 

bump.

 

Does anyone understand what I need to do?

When I boot up there are no partitions I can select that take me to my G drive and that is what I need to fix.

 

G is XP.

Well, when you're in Vista it thinks Vista is C. However, C drive is actually an XP partition since Vista doesn't have a drive letter (don't know why, it just never created one for itself).

 

Thank you for reading it all.

I have another XP installation on F. It is designed for my games and games only.

Yes I do. It's the Vista one where you can select to boot Vista or an "older version of Windows". When you select that I get the partitions but they all boot the same partition (non-gaming XP).

 

Bump.

 

Bump-Bump.

 

I've had two or more for years now.