Windows can not start

Windows can not start because the file <Windows Root>\system32\hal.dll is either missing or corrupt. Please replace this file.

That is the message I got last night when I tried to boot my computer. I am praying there is someone who will read this who can and will take the time to help me.

I tried what little I knew to try. Booting in safe mode does not work. I just get the same message. I tried hitting the F12 key and got that boot disk menu or whatever it's called. I selected every option given and it still just brings me back to the same error message. And how am I going to replace a file if I can't even get Windows to open?

I have a CD called "Operating System." I got it with my computer. It says on the CD that it is only to be used to reinstall Windows. I am assuming that since my computer came pre-loaded from Dell that I probably did not receive the CD I need, but I don't know. In addition, I have a CD that says "Windows XP Home Edition including SP2" as when I updated to SP2 I ordered the CD, so maybe that one would work. Again I don't know.

If humanly possible I want to solve this problem without a reinstall because I have too many precious things on my computer to loose them all. I recently purchased Acronis TrueImage, but hadn't yet gotten around to purchasing some kind of external drive on which to back up my system with it.

I have all kinds of security programs which I update and run faithfully and regularly. My anit-virus and firewall is the paid version of AVG.

Two nights ago I did a scan with my a2 Squared Malware program. It found something in one file. There was no option to clean. I either had to delete or quarantine. I quarantined -- so possibility -- the file which was placed in quarantine is something I need to start my system? Again, I don't know. Other than this, the only things I did were to update my RoboForm program and I did run Registry Mechanic, which I have had for a long time and never had any trouble with. I don't allow it to run in the background. I just open and run it occasionally.

I have a Dell Dimension 4600 -- Windows XP SP2 -- I.E. 7. If there is anyone out there who would be willing to help me, you will have to send your replies to me at a different e-mail address since I won't be able to retrieve anything on my computer. Please send to: <removed email address>

Also, if you are going to take this on, please give precise and detailed instructions as I'm no technician and won't be able to read between the lines.

Thank you,
Nikilet

 

There are detailed instructions here from ShadowPuterDude for a Dell WinXP.

See post: "08-03-05 22:28", in this thread, print instructions as mentioned.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/printthread.php?t=69169

I'm sorry we don't give instructions via email, forums are supervised by moderators for quality of info given out. You can post any questions you have here though. Shadow's directions are very clear n easy to follow.

 

Thanks for your answer, but since I couldn't boot my computer at all I never received it until tonight and now it's too late. With Dell's help I reinstalled my OS. They told me that tossing the boot.ini file and redoing it wouldn't work and that a repair install wouldn't work and being the dummy I am I accepted what they told me.

But worse, I did have lots of important data saved to CDs, which worked fine before this reinstall, but now the CD drive won't read them so I've really lost everything. It's the same computer, the same operating system and I can't figure out why the CD drive now will not read these CDs. Do you have any advice for this?

Thanks,
Nikilet

 

Do you mean that the CD drive will not read any CDs at all or just the ones that you saved the data on.

Were the cds you saved to CDRW?
If so did you reinstall something like INCD or DirectCD?
Do you have any of these blank CDs left over?
What happens if you put one into the pc?

I guess you posted an Email address - don't there is a pefectly good private message system here at MG. You are welcome to use it,but remember the idea is that everyone benefits from seeing how a repair is done.

Studio T

 

I tell you what -- this CD deal has be baffled. To start with it would not read one single CD that I had copied things to. Some of them were CD-R and some CD-RW. But I kept trying and finally, for whatever the reason, it read 3 or 4 of them but still won't read the rest. And as I said, before I reinstalled they were perfectly readable.

I tried putting them in both drives too -- CD ROM and DVD drives on my computer.

Quite a deal but sure wish I could get it to read them.

I understood what you said about the site and all -- wasn't being jerky -- just woebegone! After reading what you wrote, in addition to the other people, I feel more certain than ever that this probably could have been fixed without my losing absolutely everything.

Thanks
Nikilet

 

Dells are different enough that some standard Microsoft proceedures need to be done differently. However it is too late to rerun the repair.

After any Windows installation there will be drivers and programs that need to be installed as well. In particular additional drivers and programs are needed to run rewritable optical drives as some of the software is not part of Windows. Dell support should have got you to reinstall all this extra stuff after Windows. If the drives came with the pc you should have Dell disks to install from, if you added them later, you should have the suppliers disks.

Go about this methodically
What does it say in Device Manager about the drives?
Can you read the cds on a friends pc?
Have you installed all the exta software.

Studio T

 

Dell supposedly installed what I needed, but I'm beginning to wonder. They asked that I turn my computer over to them and they would go ahead and install the drives. That about drove me nuts.

I have no problem with any program CDs -- only the ones I copied things to. At first it would not read any of them in either drive. Then I did get it to read 3 of the CDs (2 of them were CD-RW and 1 CD-R) and there are 3 more important ones that it will not read. And yes, I had a friend put them in her computer and she was able to open them.

I did discover that Dell hadn't reinstalled my Sonic RecordNow, but I had the installation disk for that and installed it.

As I've gone through this process, often when I put a disk in the DVD drive I get a pop up asking me to insert a disk -- so I open the drawer and then close it again and the sign stays there.

What is INCD and DirectCD? If I have them where do I look for them?

If I remember correctly from the past, when I would put a new CD-R or CD-RW in I think I would get some kind of pop up telling me I had to format the disk. That no longer happens. I bought some new CDs today and tried it. And if there is something you click on to format I sure can't find it. I've looked everywhere for something.

I checked Device Manager and couldn't see that there was anything wrong -- but that's no guarantee because I simply don't know that much about the inner workings.

If you have any more advice for me on this CD problem please let me know, and thanks for your interest.

Nikilet

 

Windows can run pretty well any hard drive, floppy or graphics card out there. However Microsoft have never fully incorporated the software needed to run optical drives. This still applies in Vista today.

As a result you have always had to install extra software to fully run a cd writer or burner. Windows XP introduced rudimentary writing software but rudimentary is the word and most users choose to add proper software for the job.

There are two types of writable CD and they are fundamentally different.
This has lead to software companies providing two separate programs, one for each. These are separatly installable, you can have one without the other.

For CDR disks Adaptec wrote Easy CD creator and Ahead wrote Nero. There are others, eg the Sonic, now owned by Sony.
CDR disks do not require formatting, you just open the program, tell it what files you want to palce on the CDR and it does the rest.

CDRW disks use what is called packet writing technology. Adaptec wrote Direct CD and Ahead wrote INCD. Again there are others. These are small programs, which start with Windows and monitor the presence of a CDRW in the drive. This provides the drag and drop facility that Windows has for other media. Usually an icon shows in the bottom right corner.
When you place a blank CDRW in the drive the program causes the popup which allows you to format the CDRW.

You can only have one packet writing software program loaded or conflicts will occur. Further users often find that CDRW disks written with one program are unreadable on a pc with a different program, or worse locks up that pc.

So you will need to find and install both CD writable programs to get your drive fully functional.

Dell are one of the best for Internet support sites. All the software (except Windows) for a given pc is available for free download. Their telephone support has a lesser reputation.

Hope this all helps.

Studio T

 

Re: Trouble with Access

It's me again and now I have a whole new problem.

I opened a Word Perfect file and entered some data in it that I want to save. I saved the file as "Data" and then I copied this file to a CD-R.

The next day I wanted to add some more information to this file so I put in the CD, opened the file and added the information. When I clicked to close and save, I was told that this file is read only and that I could add data to it but I would have to save the file with a different name. So I assigned the name "Data 2." When I clicked to save this is the sign that popped up:

"Access denied, you do not have rights to do this."

I had files like this that I saved to CDs before my reinstall of Windows XP SP2 to which I would add things and I never got any of these signs.

In trying to find the solution I found something that says you can change the permissions on files and folders, but it didn't say where to go to do that.

I am the only one who uses this computer. I have only one user account which is an administrator's account. As administrator I should have rights to do anything, shouldn't I? Can anyone PLEASE tell me what I do now?

Thank you,
Nikilet