Hard Drived Damaged or Still Repairable???

Hi,

Upon starting my computer running Windows XP Home Edition, I get the following error message:

"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."

I've tried several fixes without success. The last thing I have tried is to boot from my XP CD and act like I was doing a fresh install. I understood the computer would then search for a previous version and them prompt me asking whether I wanted to "repair" or "reformat."

Well, all I want to do is "repair" but it did NOT offer me this option. The message I got was:

"Drive C is unfomatted, damaged, orformatted with a file system that is incompatible with Windows XP. To continue installing Windows XP, Setup needs to format this drive."

Does the above message mean that I definitely have a damaged hard drive? I'm assuming so because it didn't even offer me the "repair" option.

If so, should I try the "format" option or is that likely pointless since the hard drive is damaged?

Thanks for any guideance.

Chris

P.S. - I guess I'm also wondering if there is a way to verify whether the hard drive is fried since I can't get Windows to load.

 

Maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I would try running a small Linux distro such as Puppy Linux off of a cd, and see if you can mount and access your HD.

If your HD is inaccessible, then I would say, yes, your HD has somehow been damaged, and the next step would be to try and reformat it.

 

Yeah... Why don't your try reformatting the hard drive? FYI that would delete everything on the HD.

 

You can usually go to the drive manufacturer's website and download free utilities that can be ran from a disk/CD, and they can scan for bad sectors.

FYI - The hal.dll error can usually be fixed by booting up a BartPE disk (or slaving the hard drive into another computer) and fixing the boot.ini file. Most of the time the boot.ini file is pointing to the wrong partition.

 

Hi Patrick, I only wanted to do this as a last resort due to the losing "everything on the HD" part of the equation.

I did buy about a year ago a 200 GB Seagate backup drive that came with some software called "BounceBack." I did run the backup a few times (as recently as a month or two ago), but I don't have a clue how to restore from it.

If I reformat and it works, is there away to restore from the second drive? Or, would I need to reformat, reinstall XP on the reformatted drive, and then grab the files I wanted (pictures, music, etc.) and put them back on the c: drive.

Pixelot, I'm sure you have an idea what you are talking about, unfortunately, I'm not sure what Linux distro such as Puppy Linux is or how to mount and access it via the HD.

 

I believe I tried to fix the boot.ini file by following these instructions - http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/repairbootini.htm

but, when I started the computer the same problem happened.

 

You know, I've reinstall WinXP so many times before, and one thing that I noticed, sometimes if you choose quick format, and reinstall the OS on the same partition, then the OS will be installed and all of your stuff would still be there.

I believe what happens is that quick format only rebuilt the partition table, and when Windows reinstalls it will just revert all of the OS files back. All of your data will remain intact.

But of course, I'm not guaranteeing anything here. I would suggest you try it as a last resort.

 

I'd strongly recommend against that.

 

On the second thought reformatting the HD does not entirely erase the data on the hard drive. There are third-party softwares that can perform data recovery. However, I really don't know the details. Good luck...

 

Alright, I went ahead and moved forward with a "clean installation." When I did so, I got the following message again:

"Drive C is unfomatted, damaged, orformatted with a file system that is incompatible with Windows XP. To continue installing Windows XP, Setup needs to format this drive."

I selected the option to reformat and I got the following message:

"Please wait while Setup formats the partition
C: Partition1 [Unknown] 76316 MB ( 76316 MB free)
on 76317 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR].

Setup is formating. . ."

After it reached 100% I got the following message:

"Setup was unable to format drive C. The hard disk may be damaged. Make sure the disk is on and properly connected to your computer. If the disk is a SCSI disk, make sure your SCSI devices are properly terminated. See your computer or SCSI adapter documentation for more information.

Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3."

As I mentioned, I attempted all of the troubleshooting steps here - http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/missinghaldll.htm

Based on the latest message, I'd assume that I definitely have a corrupted unfixable (by me) hard drive. Any thoughts or confirmations based on your experiences?

 

Until I purchase a new hard drive, it is possible to setup Windows XP on the 200 GB Seagate drive I was using as my backup. I'm assuming it is, I guess what I want to make sure of is that I can do so in a way not to delete all the backup information that I already have on that drive.

 

Hmm, that is a good question. I suppose if you can install windows without doing ANY format what so ever, maybe you data won't be deleted, or touched at all. Otherwise, I wouldn't do anything to because you'll lose the data.

 

. create a partition on ur 200gb (20+ or so) for windows
. this way ur data is still intact
. install XP on this "small partition" and u will be safe

cheers ...

 

Unfortunately, that's not really the fix I was talking about. However, since your problem is most likely a damaged drive, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. On the plus side, there are utilities that can scan and lock out any bad sectors, so the drive could still be used.

 

thanks, this is what I was wondering and I wasn't sure if creating the "partition" was sufficient to keep my backup data safe.

Nevertheless, after further thought I think what I'm going to do is go out this afternoon and buy another hard drive to replace the damaged one so I'll be back in business with two drives again.

 

Yea, that's the safest way. I bet the 200GB drive is already a NTFS or FAT32 partition drive, so you probably can do what you think you wanted to do, but it is still safer to just get a new drive. You don't want to lose the data from your backup.

 

you can simply install windows without any kind of format or partition on the backup drive and windows will create the folder structure it needs leaving the rest intact.

As for your original problem, I get these kinds of issues all the time and whether you can recover the data or drive depends on exactly what the nature of the problem is--your description, or the description windows gives, is not really helpful.


The interesting thing about the beginning of your story is that you were still getting a report that hal.dll is missing or corrupt.

In order for you to get this message, your drive must be at least partially functional, and the MBR was at least partially working.

After you entered the recovery console, you should have tried three things.

A. Run a
chkdsk /r
(reboot)

b. Run a
fixmbr
command

c. Run a
fixboot
command

The key to the fixboot command is knowing the structure of your drive...did it have any existing partitions placed there by a manufacturer? The fixboot command requires the drive parameter

It sounds to me like the system partition record was damaged and the fix boot command would have solved your problem

 

I tried the following procedure with no success - http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/newbootsector.htm

I'm not sure if this is the fix boot fix you are referring to.

 

I just returned with a new Seagate 160 GB hard drive and have installed this drive in place of the hard drive that came with my computer (which I now see is a Western Digital 80 GB HD). Thus, I now have my Seagate 200 GB drive and the new Seagate 160 GB HD in the tower.

Prior to my HD problem, my main Western Digital HD was drive C: and the Seagate was drive H:. When I started the system for the first time is said something to the effect of no operating system (something to that effect). I insterted the XP disc and the install XP menus came up.

What was weird was at first it looked like it wanted to install XP to my C: drive but what I didn't understand was it looked like it was now calling my former H: backup drive the C: drive now. I say this because it clearly was the 200 GB drive it was trying to install to because 70 GB was already used up.

I hit esc. and it then allowed me to choose between my two drives. Again, what I don't understand is it looked like my new HD was being called the H: drive and my backup (that used to be H was being called the C: drive now??? I definitely confirmed that I did NOT accidently plug the cable backwards - I made sure the Black went to my master and the gray was plugged in to the slave/backup just like before.

Not sure if this is going to be an issue because technically I think the "Windows XP Home Edition Setup" that is now running is going to install XP on my new drive like I wanted, but it may call it H: now. Anyway, it is currently 46% into the "Setup is formatting" screen and says:

Please wait while setup formats the partition
H: Partial1 [New (Raw)] 152618 MB (152617 MB free)
on 152626 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]

I assume I'm on the right path. Before, I couldn't even get the XP disc to reformat the old (damaged?) HD).

Is there a way to swap the drive letters? I'm used to C: being the main drive. I'll do a search now since the "formatting" is slowly progressing.

 

Something else just popped into my head. My computer was purchased back in 2003 and I'm using the disc that came with it. Since then, we purchase a new laptop (end of 2005). Should I have installed Windows XP with the newer CD? I'm guessing it probably would have been a newer version?

 

Alright, Windows XP is up and running (of course, bare as can be).

 

Hey, at least you get your data back. I would say back everything up, and set-up windows again from scratch, if that's what you want to do (like fix the C; and H: and so on).

 

windows will choose the first drive by defaul as determined by hardware --sounds like you have a cabling/jumper issue.

 

Yes, this is the most important thing! Thanks

 

what is this? Laptop? Desktop?

What make and model? What motherboard? When you inserted new drive, what did you do differently?

Windows setup thinks your old drive is the first drive on the machine and installed there.

 

As I said above, I've now got the desktop running again and most of the programs reinstalled.

What I was wondering is can I now open up my computer and connect the old hard drive that I believe is damaged just to see if I can access from my now running desktop? I assume I can, I guess my question is whether there are any negatives of trying this since I am finally up and running again. There may be some pictures and other stuff I could recover I thought.

The only other question I had was while installing the new hard drive I could have sword that my ribbon had a third connector on it. I'll double check when I get home. I know for certain it had a third power plug. I assume one could run the master and two slaves right?