Windows Corrupt file message question

T

taclander

My 10 year Dell Dimension 8300 possibly has hit its end. Today at start up I am getting the message "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <windows root>\system32\hal.dll. Please reinstall a copy of the above file"

I have the Dell operating system disk, but it says reinstallation disk. Would it probably be a repair disk for Windows also? I have other Win XP disks, could I use one of those to repair the XP that came with this Dell, or would there be a conflict?

Thanks

Have an Acronis question in another thread too....weee, love tech
 
Quote from taclander:

My 10 year Dell Dimension 8300 possibly has hit its end. Today at start up I am getting the message "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <windows root>\system32\hal.dll. Please reinstall a copy of the above file"

I have the Dell operating system disk, but it says reinstallation disk. Would it probably be a repair disk for Windows also? I have other Win XP disks, could I use one of those to repair the XP that came with this Dell, or would there be a conflict?

Thanks

Have an Acronis question in another thread too....weee, love tech
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If you can boot into safe mode, try running System File Checker.. info about this on the net.

Your D8300 probably isn't dead, but you might need to do a fresh OS install.
 
Quote from taclander:

No luck with safe mode. I get the same message. I'll try last know good configuration also.
Thank you
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I've never had any luck with "repairing" XP and have it work properly. You might be stuck with doing fresh OS install... unless you have Acronis image.
 
Quote from taclander:

I do, but I can't get to it so far.
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You should be able to "get to the image", but you need to boot from an Acronis boot disk... it's in Linux.

If you don't have one, can you install Acronis on another machine and burn a boot disk?
 
Quote from Scataphagos:

You should be able to "get to the image", but you need to boot from an Acronis boot disk... it's in Linux.

If you don't have one, can you install Acronis on another machine and burn a boot disk?
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I apologize if I am not understanding. Hardware I am fair with, but the software kicks my butt. As of now the computer won't read any disk. I tried both the Dell and Windows XP disks and the same error message comes up. It looks like it needs this file to do anything as it doesn't seem to be able to read the cd drive at all without this file. I am able to get into setup, and the boot menus, and tried directing the boot to the cd drive, but I keep getting the message.
I am going to try installing Acronis on another machine, but it is a Win 7 so not sure if that will be a problem. I can live without the failing machine as long as I can recover the files I thought Acronis was backing up. I see the email backups and system backups, but I can't access them on this machine. If I direct the Dell to the Seagate drive with the system backup do you think it could recover? It is a USB hookup. I'll give it a try.
Again, thank you for time and ideas.
Moving to New Mexico, and throwing away all my tech. between mine, the wifes, and the kids I am wasting too much time on tech support with no pay.
 
Quote from taclander:

I apologize if I am not understanding. Hardware I am fair with, but the software kicks my butt. As of now the computer won't read any disk. I tried both the Dell and Windows XP disks and the same error message comes up. It looks like it needs this file to do anything as it doesn't seem to be able to read the cd drive at all without this file. I am able to get into setup, and the boot menus, and tried directing the boot to the cd drive, but I keep getting the message.
I am going to try installing Acronis on another machine, but it is a Win 7 so not sure if that will be a problem. I can live without the failing machine as long as I can recover the files I thought Acronis was backing up. I see the email backups and system backups, but I can't access them on this machine. If I direct the Dell to the Seagate drive with the system backup do you think it could recover? It is a USB hookup. I'll give it a try.
Again, thank you for time and ideas.
Moving to New Mexico, and throwing away all my tech. between mine, the wifes, and the kids I am wasting too much time on tech support with no pay.
More...

What you've described seems weird. You'd shouldn't see anything at all about ".dll" files when trying to access the optic drive. (??)

I'm using Acronis v11. It works on both XP and W7. If you can make an Acronis boot disk, you should be able to access the image files on your USB drive.
 
i'm not an expert,but could it be BIOS problem? i mean if he can't get CD drive to work and boot from any CD. or it could be that boot up from CD was disabled in bios?
anyway-your starting point is to figure out CD drive and make sure it's not dead.

once you are able to boot up from your OS cd- i would try to rewrite MBR.

http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/fix-mbr-xp-vista/

if you planning to use another PC and give up on this one(imo-10 years old-not worth a hassle)
what i would do-take out hard drive and put it into external enclosure and then-connect to new PC and just move all files that you need. simple. for this particular reason i always keep all sort of external enclosures(which i typically buy on black friday,when they are dirt cheap)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...e=External Enclosures&Order=PRICE&Pagesize=20
 
The boot disk I made isn't working on either computer. The day just gets better. Do you know if I can install Acronis on another computer to build the rescue disk, again? I was at the Acronis website and I have gotten nowhere. I have True Image 2010.
Sorry to bother you. I understand when you run out of patience.
 
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