Total System Crash - XP

I pride myself on being able to diagnose and repair almost any computer problem, but this one has driven me over the edge. Started with a computer that would give a 404 error code when trying to access any website except two or three. No reason for these 3 to work and no others. Ran Superantispyware, Avast, and several others. Found nothing. Ran CCleaner and cleaned out all the junk. Did not help. Shut down for the day, and when I started out this morning, it would not load Windows. Gave an error that the hal.dll file was missing from the root directory. Replaced the file with a known good one from another XP machine, using the Recovery panel. No good. Got the same error. This is a Media Edition of XP that was OEM, so no disks except a recovery disk that I know from experience wipes out everything. Decided to load another version of Windows XP home edition into a new directory and see if I could get it to boot up. Then thinkgs got really weird. CD booted up fine and started into loading the windows program. Then it stopped and gave me an error that there was no CD in the drive. I have two CD drives so I tried it in both drives. Same error. Green light on the drive is lit and drive is whirring, but will not read either one. Cannot get past this error, so I cannot even load up a new version of Windows. Next, I tried to access the data on the hard disk by sticking another disk into the machine from another computer that had a valid XP system installed on it. Redid the bootup sequence so the new disk would load first. Immediately got errors that another file was missing. It is not. It is there.
When in the Recovery console, I can see and read the original hard drive, and the new hard drive, and it lets me read flash drives I put into the USB port, but it will not read either of the CD drives. I found this extremely weird as well since it read the CD drive on bootup and loaded the Windows program all the way up to the Recovery console.
I can see the files on the old hard disc that I want to copy and save (of course, this is my granddaughter's computer and she has no backup) using Windows Recovery, but Recovery will only let me copy single files. It won't accept wild cards or let me copy whole directories. My first goal is to get the data off the drive. Does anyone know of a way to copy directories or use wild cards with the Recovery console?
Any ideas on the other problem would be greatly appreciated as well. This is a Gateway machine and I had to replace the motherboard recently because the power supply fried it. Well known problem. I am afraid that the hard disk may be going out as well. It is a SATA drive and gave no problems before this.
Thanks!
David

 

Since you're having trouble with the CD drives I don't know if you would be able to get something like the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD), Avira AntiVir Rescue System or a Linux live CD to boot or not. If you could, it might help you solve the problem. I'd give it try before doing the following:

Maybe pull the hard drive you want to copy data from and place it in an external enclosure or connect the hard drive, internally, as a second hard drive to another computer. Then copy the data(scanning for malware first). Once you get every thing you want copied, put the drive back in the original machine and use the OEM recovery disk. I don't see any way around having to re-install applications.

 

And if,as you say, you are afraid the drive is going, then this would be an excellent time to upgrade to a larger drive.
AFTER copying needed files from the old one as mentioned by plastidust.

 

Thanks for the replies. I was able finally to get a second version of Windows XP installed on the hard drive. Just put in in a Windows2 directory. Have beedn copying the old data. First burned it onto a DVD and wasted a lot of time. The program showed everything worked and burned fine but when I put it on another computer to view it, it was blank. Something really wrong with the machine. It did let me use a flash drive so I copied files to the flash drive, took them to another computer, and burned them to a DVD. Real pain. Now that I just about have everything moved, I am debating whether it is worth trying to save anything on this machine. New power supply, new motherboard, and going to have to get a new hard disc. I don't know if the kind of issues I have seen are software related or if there could be a glitch in the bios or the hardware, such as the motherboard. Good news is that I was able to save a lot of the data. Maybe all of it.
David

 

found this:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm

 

That article was excellent. Solved the problem and the hal.dll error is gone.
Thanks !!!
What is happening now, however, is that Windows will not recognize the keyboard. I think it is because I use an HP keyboard and it needs the kbdhid driver, and not the kbdclass driver. Keyboard works fine in the POST startup, for example if I go to the bios settings. It works to let me go into safe mode. However, whether windows starts in regular mode or in safe mode, it won't let me type in my password so I am effectively locked out. All users, including the Administrator account, have passwords. I simple cannot type them in. Looked all around for an old keyboard to use, but naturally I threw them all out as obsolete.
I tried just copying kbdhid.sys to the driver directory under Windows/system32/ but it did not help.
I would appreciate any suggestions. Otherwise I will go out and beg, borrow, or buy another keyboard and see if that works.
By the way, I think I got this problem through a partial disc failure. Did a chkdsk in Repair mode and it showed a lot of bad sections on the disc. A directory search of the driver directory did not show the kbdhid.sys file in it.

 

if you have a spare, or know someone who does, you could try to swap the keyboards out; at least then you will know without a purchase if the keyboard is faulty, or have you already swapped?

 

found:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257729 <- points to 2000 Pro OS but may be informative

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=217600 <- points to MG but end result not posted

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=209704 <- linked with kbdhid.sys file zipped

 

is this a ps2 or usb keyboard? if it's not being recognized after bios, then the prob is in bios. i use an hp keyboard on a dell with xp pro & no issues, usb.

 

Is usb enabled in the bios?- I have seen this when a ps2 keyboard had been used , and then a usb connected, and not recognised when at sign in screens.
It can be worth looking to see if there is a usb option in the bios (usually f2, or, del on start up)

 

Also with a lot of bad sectors , the hard drive becomes unreliable- I would think about one to save further problems- I know it is more money, but could be les heartache, if you get it going, and another file goes missing. I played with hard drives until I was ick of it, trying to save one's with bad sectors- in the end - unless there is no option- I replaced them.

 

Great, my slogan is
sometimes the obvious eludes us
Sometimes something we do 100's of times, we forget, always worth a nudge.
Good luck

 

Just an update for all of you that have helped. I swapped out keyboards, and a PS2 board worked. None of the USB boards would work in Windows, although all of them worked in the POST routine. Once I got the keyboard to work and got passwords in and windows started, I thought I could install one of the USB keyboards and windows would recognize it and load it up. No luck. It refused to recognize them.
Still cannot get on the internet. Redirects all addresses to a 404 error except for one or two and rhyme or reason for them going through.
Did the sfc /scannow. Got all kinds of errors, but it wants the original discs with SP/3 loaded. Since this was an OEM machine, I don't have them.
Hopefully will be able to borrow a set of discs tomorrow from a friend to see if sfc /scannow will pull the necessary files off of them. I tried it with my XP home edition discs and it rejected them.
When sfc /scannow finishes running, does anyone know if it produces a log, and if so, what is the log name and where can it be located?
I agree with the earlier post about replacing the hard drive, but this is such a strange problem, I decided I want to find out what is going on. If I replace the hard drive, since I have already replaced the motherboard, I can scrap my OEM edition of XP Pro Media Center. Microsoft won't authenticate it. I figured it was worth struggling on, or I'll have to buy another OS and if I do that, it might as well be Windows 7.
Again, thanks for all the great input.