 Number 286 - March 2007 |
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| CRASH! WINDOWS WILL NOT COME UP! This Could Be YOU! | |
| Irene Ganas, Chicago Computer Society, IL | |
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My 2002 Desktop HP Pavilion 770c suddenly crashed. The screen came up black with the following white text: "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: "Windows root> \system32\hal.dll Please re-install a copy of the above file". My computer with its two 120GB internally-installed hard drives is still dead or, more descriptively, a vegetable on life support. We continually discuss "How to Backup Your Computer" at our meetings, in Hard-Copy and on yahoo! eGroups. It always looks so easy to do a "One Touch Backup." But, I have always wondered, and I have heard many others of you similarly wonder, whether the backup that we made is good and will work. I religiously make backups and use Drive Image v2i Protector from PowerQuest, now Symantec. My Drive Image backup looked like it was good and I know it worked because I could read the data on the DVDs on another computer. Using my Sony notebook to access the Internet, I looked up that missing file and a solution to the problem. All the directions I received told me to "Insert and boot from your Windows XP CD." I need that Windows XP CD. I do not want to restore the computer to its as purchased condition that the HP recovery set accomplishes. I want to replace that one file. I need to boot from the Windows XP CD to install another copy of the hal.dll file to fix the problem. HP refuses to supply the Windows XP Home Edition CD and Microsoft, for all its "authentication" and "genuine Windows" gibberish, backs them up. Microsoft lets them get away with not giving us the "genuine Windows XP CD" it advertises that we should be sure we are getting when we buy a computer with the operating system installed. I have only a set of HP Recovery CDs that begins by reformatting the drive wiping out all the added drivers, updates, authentications and authorizations for programs from Microsoft, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Intuit, etc. , that took forever to obtain via dialup Internet. I just want to replace one teeny file not wipe out my whole drive and start anew with a fresh computer as it was purchased. My Drive Image v2i Protector 120 GB C: drive backup totaling 76GB used was made and copied by the Drive Image backup program to the second internal 120GB drive in 3900 MB blocks so that I could burn them to DVD disks. I have 19 DVDs Drive Image backup and the Power Quest Recovery Environment CD from which to boot. All would have been well and the computer fixed in 15 minutes if the second hard drive had been large enough to accommodate at least one more 76 GB backup. But, alas, that second backup would require 152 GB and the backup drive is only 120 GB. (IMPORTANT: my first mistake was buying a backup drive the same size as the C drive) I spent 4 days copying the backup images to DVDs so that I could remove the 76 GB backup from the internal second backup hard drive to make a current backup. After checking the DVDs, I deleted the image to make room for the new backup. With Murphy at work, that is when the computer crashed. So, I have ALL MY DATA and it is readable from those DVDs on my Sony notebook. I just need to get Windows XP going again on the HP desktop by getting the missing hal.dll file into the system 32 folder of Windows. Here is how I tried to solve the problem. Since Windows is set by default to boot first from the Floppy A drive and then the C: drive, I had to change the boot order to be able to boot from the boot CD in the DVD drive. I needed to boot from the DVD drive because the backups were on DVDs. After booting the HP desktop and pressing F11 to get into the SETUP, I changed the boot order (by using up and down arrows to highlight the drive and moving it up by clicking + and - buttons) to reorder the drives from the original: 1. Floppy A; 2. C drive; 3. CD-ROM drive; and, 4. Int Network To: 1. Int Network (which I used to get the DVD drive to boot by inserting the PQRE boot disk in this drive instead of the CD-ROM drive as the backups are on DVDs; 2. C drive; 3. CD-ROM drive; and, 4. Floppy A. |
Booting from the DVD drive (the computer now calls it the G drive) worked and I selected the System Recovery option from the PQRE. It asked me to locate the Image folder and file name. I had to take the PQRE CD out of the DVD drive to insert the first of the 19 backup DVDs. Look in: My computer, CD Drive (G:) where the backup DVD was inserted. That was confusing because the computer called it a "CD Drive (G)" even though it is a DVD drive. I needed that drive instead of the CD-ROM drive (D) because the backups are on DVDs. I got the error message: "Disk is not formatted "Windows cannot read from this disk. The disk might be corrupted, or it could be using a format that is not compatible with Windows." The disk is definitely not corrupted and it is compatible with Windows in my Sony notebook. I can read it well. That attempt at fixing the problem did not work! Must take another tack and try new ideas. Next three ideas to try are: 1. Again change boot order to CD-ROM to run the PQRE boot CD, then DVD drive to feed in the backup image on the 19 DVDs, then C drive so Windows will start next, then Floppy A drive and HOPE THAT IT WORKS! Or, 2. Buy a Windows XP CD for $95 + tax to run to get the missing or corrupted file, hal.dll, replaced in the 3. Buy a removable USB hard drive enclosure for $39 + tax + $8 shipping. Remove all the wires from the desktop, unscrew the computer case, open the case, disconnect the cable and remove the second 120 GB hard drive and plug it into the removable USB enclosure. Attach that enclosure as a removable USB hard drive to the Sony notebook, feed in the 19 Drive Image backup DVDs and copy them to the 120 GB removable USB drive. Safely remove the USB hard drive from the notebook, open the enclosure and unplug the hard drive (because without the hal.dll you can't use USB on the desktop), reinstall the 120GB backup hard drive into the HP desktop in its former place as backup drive, re-assemble the desktop case and replace the screws, plug in the monitor, keyboard, mouse and all the other wires again. Turn on the computer with the PQRE CD in the drive and boot. Run the System Recovery and locate the Drive Image backup that has now been copied back to the second drive where it had been originally. Now that you have played the game, "plug-n-pray," you can now HOPE THAT IT WORKS! Of course, even if it works, solution #2 would require a change to a larger backup hard drive or you are right back in the same situation of having too small a backup drive to be able to put the recommended child, father and grandfather set of three backups to rotate saved backups in the future. Fixing that problem requires all that rigmarole AGAIN! Remove all the wires from the desktop, unscrew the computer case, open the case, disconnect the cable and remove the second 120 GB hard drive and plug it into the removable USB enclosure. Buya 120GB x 3 = 360 GB or larger hard drive for about $300 including tax. Put that drive into the desktop for the second backup drive. While you have the case open, you may as well install that USB 2.0 plug (this four year old desktop has the slow USB 1.0) so that the USB 2.0 peripherals will run at the speed for which they were designed. Re-assemble the desktop case and replace the screws, plug in the monitor, keyboard, mouse and all the other wires again. May I remind you, I am still HOPING that it will RUN when it is turned back on again? God bless its little heart! A review of all that work gave me a fourth idea that would solve all my problems, be less work and would stand me in good stead for future recovery after a crash that will probably never come again. Idea #4 is: Get a new computer with a second hard drive installed that is at least three times the size of the C: drive! THAT SHOULD WORK! Why spend all that time and money and on a four year old computer? (Because I was hoping to hold out until Vista arrives in 2007, that's why.) Run the HP recovery set on the old desktop and relegate it to making labels and printing cards. Maybe it would work for a main computer to attach to a wireless router if cable Internet ever becomes available in my out-in-the-country, forested neighborhood. The cable company is getting closer and may, at last, be here. Ah, the possibilities never end! The Moral of the Story: Get that second internal hard drive at least three times larger than your main C: drive, back up an image of your drive every few months until you have three backup images. HAVE MORE THAN ONE BACKUP IMAGE AND DONT ERASE MORE THAN ONE AT A TIME! Irene Ganas is a member of the Chicago Computer Society, Chicago IL, http://www.ccs.org, and may be reached at, iganas@aol.com. |
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Number 286 - March 2007
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