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    Help - XP won't boot Dell 1520

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by piemcgee171, Oct 26, 2008.

  1. piemcgee171

    piemcgee171 Newbie

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    After rebooting I got an error message that I was missing hal.dll and that windows could not stat. Note: XP has been working great for about 8 months now.

    I got this message after trying to boot in safe mode as well.

    I put the XP installation disk in and went through the recovery process but no dice. It just loads up the dell logo then goes to a black screen but no more error message. I can hear the hard drive spinning. Hope you guys can help.

    Thanks.
     
    piemcgee171, Oct 26, 2008
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  2. X2P

    X2P COOLING | NBR Super Mod

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    The loading of Mac OSX is not allowed on these forums.

    Any further talk will result in a infraction or ban

    Thank you
     
    X2P, Oct 26, 2008
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  3. mgh_a1

    mgh_a1 Notebook Evangelist

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    Uh, I thought that he was talking about Windows XP?

    Anyway, If you are not making it past the post screen that can signify a problem with the MBR. There is a great program called bootit! That you can download and use to try to repair it. I suggest giving that a try.
     
    mgh_a1, Oct 26, 2008
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  4. X2P

    X2P COOLING | NBR Super Mod

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    I edited out the illegal crap
     
    X2P, Oct 26, 2008
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  5. piemcgee171

    piemcgee171 Newbie

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    Yeah I tried the new MBR thing and no luck. I've done everything imaginable. I even installed XP on the recovery and it wouldn't load either.

    please help.
     
    piemcgee171, Oct 26, 2008
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  6. piemcgee171

    piemcgee171 Newbie

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    Update: I tried using the ubuntu live cd and it just gets stuck on a black screen after I select startup on the boot cd.
     
    piemcgee171, Oct 26, 2008
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  7. piemcgee171

    piemcgee171 Newbie

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    Update: Ubuntu works now I just had to give it some more time.
     
    piemcgee171, Oct 26, 2008
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  8. mgh_a1

    mgh_a1 Notebook Evangelist

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    You could download puppy linux and use that to see if there is a problem with your HDD. Just burn it to CD and load a session (it loads straight to RAM, no HDD)

    You could use that to try to backup any data that you might want. I suggest attempting a complete reformat at this point.

    Otherwise, you should run the Dell diagnostic (hold the Fn key and power on) to see if the HDD has failed.
     
    mgh_a1, Oct 26, 2008
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  9. piemcgee171

    piemcgee171 Newbie

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    I've already backed up all my stuff and reformatted and reinstalled. I still run into the same issue at boot. Just a black screen after the Dell logo and load. I am beginning to think that because I made my backup drive active it made my regular drive non-active. But now I can't change that because I have no operating system. any suggestions?
     
    piemcgee171, Oct 26, 2008
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  10. millermagic

    millermagic Rockin the pinktop

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    You could use gparted and redo all of the partitions.
     
    millermagic, Oct 26, 2008
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