Windows could not start problem

[justin2317]

My friend has a problem with his pc.He has just booted it up and error message has come up.

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
\system32\hal.dll

Please re-install a copy of the above file.

I have booted from the cdrom with the windows xp disk but repair and re-install windows xp says no hard drives attatched check power supplies.

I have checked the power supplies and it seems to be ok.
What do i try now?.Is the harddrive broken?.

Thanks in advance for any help

[pam123]

Does the hard drive show in the bios?

[justin2317]

I'm not sure Pam. I will post back later.
Wont Xp see the harddrive wether its working or not?.

[pam123]

Originally Posted by justin2317 ll I have booted from the cdrom with the windows xp disk but repair and re-install windows xp says no hard drives attatched check power supplies.

No.
If it couldn't find the drive when you booted from the cd then it can't see it.
If the drive is gone from the bios then there are several possible failures.
1. The power supply connection. Try another one if possible .
2. The 80 wire cable/sata cable that attaches the hdd to the motherboard. You can swap one in as an experiment, they're very inexpensive.
3. Hard drive diagnostic from the drive maker's site or the OEM site. You usually have to run this to get the warranty on the drive so it can be replaced.
Just download it to a bootable floppy, the instructions will be on the website, and run it.
It sounds like your friend's hard drive has died and this will confirm it.

[justin2317]

Ive just had a look at the pc and the hard drive is there in the bios.
Just going to look on the Maxtor site now for the diagnostic test,i'll report later.
Ps thanks again Pam

[justin2317]

All the diagnostic tests for hard drives ive found all seem to need windows already running.Am i looking for the wrong one?.
The hard drive is maxtor diamondmax plus 9, 200 gb Sata/150 HDD 3.5 Series.
Thanks for any help.

[pam123]

This is the diagnostic you want : http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Ma...&downloadID=22
It runs from the floppy not the XP install so put the floppy drive first in the boot order.
If there's anything you're not sure of post back.
Read it through carefully, especially the 'Note' about supported hardware for the diagnostic.

I was messing around with installing another DDR module on my WinXP system and got a similar error. If you have two modules in there, try each one separatly and try to boot up. If you only have one stick and it worked in
that mobo before....then I'd say, "it aint the ram"

Anyway, good luck
Craig722

I had that problem on a couple of systems, I ran chkdsk on 1 system and on the drive and it booted fine. On another system the drive did not check out and I need to send in the drive.

[govigov]

why not boot using a boot floppy and then copying the hal.dll which you got from another system on to the your harddisc and see if that solves the problem?

[glc]

http://www.compphix.com/corrupthal.html

Had one of these the other day - something corrupted the boot.ini file.

[justin2317]

Sorry its been awhile but ive been away.
Sorted the original problem.I did a Maxtor diagnostic test like previous posters have said and the hard drive had failed and is on the way back to Maxtor under warranty.
Have a new problem now though.I bought the same drive to replace it.Installed it.Changed the boot device to cdrom and tried to boot from WinXp disk.It goes through the initial hardware scans then asks fresh or repair.I obviously choose new and then i get an error no harddrive installed.
Ive tried the same Maxtor test to the new drive and it comes back no problems and says installed correctly.
Dont know what to try now?.
Can anybody help.

[pam123]

Is this an SATA drive or your standard IDE drive?
If it's the latter how is it jumpered?
If it's master try cable select, if cable select try master.

[justin2317]

Hi Pam, the drive is a SATA drive.Havent had much to do with SATA yet.I have an orange cable and the 4 pin power cable.

[macko72]

You will have to install drivers for SATA !!!
You need to hit F6 when prompted during the Windows install, and provide the drivers when told to do so.

Installing the SATA controller driver

Once you have set the PC to boot from the CD make sure the XP CD is in the CD drive and start the installation as per usual. Within the first minute or so of the installation Windows will prompt you to press F6 to install RAID or SCSI drivers, do this. Windows will continue to install then ask you to locate the driver. now with the floppy disk created earlier in drive A: select the driver and hit Enter.

With the SATA drivers installed you can now continue the Windows installation as usual.

BIOS settings

Once Windows has finished installing you will need to make sure the PC is set to boot from the SATA drive. To do this make the first boot device SATA if the option is available. If not you have two options: HD0 - If there are no IDE HDs present, or SCSI if you do plan on running an IDE HD as a secondary device.

[justin2317]

How do i install Sata drivers without having windows installed?.

[jayb1234]

Installation instructions from the maxtor website. http://www.maxtor.com/_files/maxtor/...tion_guide.pdf

[justin2317]

Thanks for the reply Jayb. I downloaded MaxBlast and followed the instructions.It went through the process and set up the drivers and then said to remove floppy and boot from cdrom.Done that but exactly the same.Still not finding any harddrives installed.Dont know what else to do.
Can anybody help?.

[pam123]

Okay so we've got a floppy drive that has no trouble finding the SATA drive either for diagnostic purposes or for setting up SATA drivers.
But you hit a stonewall everytime you try to use the cd-rom?
Move the cd-rom to another IDE channel and see if it keeps happening.
Try another cable as well.

[justin2317]

Ive tried changing the ide cables around but still no joy.I havent got a spare sata cable so that will have to wait till tomorrow.One qustion though.Is there a stting in the bios to enable sata or is it automatic?.Shouldnt i see the harddrive somewhere in the bios cos i dont at the moment.

[glc]

Originally Posted by justin2317 How do i install Sata drivers without having windows installed?.

Read Macko's post right above this again. You must have a floppy made with the SATA drivers ready to go before you start the install. Some motherboards come with a premade floppy, others you have to extract the drivers from the motherboard CD. Some CD's have a floppy maker. Some motherboard manufacturers have the floppy maker or image available for download.

[justin2317]

Thanks for all the help on this post.I gave up this morning after 2 days and trying absolutley everything.Ive taken it to my local shop to do.He is having the same problems with it.For some reason its conflicting between the Hdd,Windows Xp and the raid on the motherboard.Its all beyond me now but he says he is having a nightmare.For some reason he has got it running with Win98, which he says is less fussy?.
Just for the record heres what i tried.
I auto installed raid.
Pressed F6 and installed 3rd party sata drivers.(had to rip the files from the Asus cd and put onto floppy)
I have tried numerous other things including clearing Cmos,changing sata cable,moving from sata1 to sata2 on mboard,taking all but cdrom from ide cables.
I tried the Maxtor diagnostic bootable floppy which reported Hdd was fine.
Tried Maxblast which performs low level format of the Hdd.
Looked everywhere in the bios and no mention of enabling or disabling sata.
If anybody can think of anything else ill pass it on, cos i dont think the guy in the shop has a clue either.
Dont understand why i didnt have this trouble before, same build (mboard, hdd,memory) just changed Hdd.

[glc]

What exact model motherboard? A bios update may help.

[justin2317]

I think its an Asus Kt400 board but as i said earlier on its at a shop now with the manuals and disks so i couldnt be sure.