Any help would be much appreciated.
I received the 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 have a lot of info ie pictures that are irreplaceable. I ordered an external hard drive about an hour before crash. Good timing.
My friend's IT guy at his work made UBCD4WIN 3.12 disk for me because I dont have the Windows xp MCE disk, as it was preinstalled

Things i have tried:
-EZ pc fix wont work. I get a "specified path does not exist"
-Handy Recovery wont start up because it needs a mail set up?
-"Repairing Windows XP in 8 Commands" twice" and several similar ones found on-line
-read JSinNOLA's post about somewhat the same thing but dont knowhow to get the hall.dll file off of UBCD4 to put i
into the folder

I have been looking at trying to get my data off the computer HD and on to my iomega external hd and then reformat, but cant move files. As i understand drivers are needed but i thought that was with older versions of UBCD4 and my version should have. My computer recognizes that a hard drive is plugged in at the lower right of the screen to disconnect, but it will not recognize it under My Computer so I cant get programs like Fab's auto back up to work.
I looked at XP's no-reformat, nondestructive total rebuild option iinstructions by Fred Langa, but i dont have the XP disk,so is this okay to try as i only have the UBCD4win? thought i should ask before screwing things up even further.

My computer is a 2 year oldToshiba Satellite 1.83GHz. I ran HD tune's error scan and everything checks out fine.
I am not good with computers by any means but am trying to learn, so please dumb down any suggestions.
Again, anything would be a big help.
Thanks in advance...

\I386\SYSTEM32\Hal.dll

Can be found in the above folder of the ubcd4win cd.

Run ntfs4dos which can be found on the initial ubcd4win boot screen and run chkdsk, this may fix the boot error or give you access to the hdd from within ubcd4win.

What is the model number of the toshiba as it could be that a driver is needed, is the hdd disk SATA?

USB 2.5" SATA drive caddy

Sharkoon DriveLink 2.5"/3.5" IDE/SATA to USB 2.0 Adapter

I've got the Sharkoon adapter and for me it's the quickest way to get data off drives like yours, you can then plug the drive into any working PC in a matter of minutes.

Knoppix

Have you tried Knoppix? This may be your quickest option it will give you full access to your drive providing it's working.

Thanks a lot. I will give it a go.


Run ntfs4dos which can be found on the initial ubcd4win boot screen and run chkdsk, this may fix the boot error or give you access to the hdd from within ubcd4win.

My model number is A 105-S4014 with a SATA hd
As for the ntfs4dos, i cant seem to get it to go to the C drive, is where i imagine that i need to run chkdsk right? not A?

I will have to check out the Sharkoon too. That is to slave my computer to another right?
Unfortunately i dont have the time at this moment to do knoppix but hopefully tomorow

Hi

I think you've misunderstood what the Sharkoon device does or your misusing PC terminology, it doesn't create a slave device it allows you to connect your hdd to a PC via a USB connection. It basically gives you a external hdd without the enclosure. However to connect the hdd to the Sharkoon it needs to be set as a master via the jumpers, however this shouldn't be necessary when connecting a 2.5" hdd only when connecting a 3.5" drive.

www.storagereview.com



Find your hdd sata drivers on the toshiba website as these need adding to your build.

NTFS4Dos needs to check the C drive. It could be that dos isn't seeing your hdd as well for some reason.

Forgot to mention if you are going to reinstall windows your going to have to find the SATA drivers otherwise windows setup will not see the hdd. You will need to put them on a floppy disk or slipstream the drivers into your XP installation media.

See this thread here on how to do it.

Thanks for the help and the terminology.
Still no luck though.
I was able to go to the C drive in NTFSforDOS but after typing in "chkdsk" it just responds with, "bad command or file name".
I found the hal.dll file on the UBCD4WIn and tried to move it to the system32 file by drag and drop and various ways to copy and paste but am not given the option to paste. Nothing works. It does appear that my system32 on my hdd does not have the hal.dll file. Member GIO replying on JSinNOLA's question said that it worked for him to copy it, so GIO, if you read this, please let me know how you did it....

I am able to see my files on my hdd through ubcd4win, ie pictures, so my data is all there but am unable to move anything. Again, if i can't get windows fixed i would like to move things to my external hdd but can not move files and under "My Computer" it will not recognize my external hdd as a drive, but will recognize it in the task bar when i "force install USB" and see it under "Computer Management" but the driver wizard there wont work... Drivers??... I can't get my computer to connect to the internet either through ubcd4win

As far as Knoppix, i dont have the computer smarts to figure out how to download it. Here in Japan I have not been able to find a Sharkoon at the giant electronics stores and to order it will take quite some time to receive.

more help please.

The ONLY time that another user has mentioned not being able to copy/paste a file was caused by them slipstreaming other updates into their Windows source files they used to create the project build with. You Windows source files must be the original SP1 or SP2 files ( if XP ) ... with no additional updates or hotfixs applied or any other alterations.

Ok, So does this mean that my only option is to try and make another ubcd4win disk? A friend of a friend made it for me so i have no idea what he did.

That would be your call but considering the issue, its what I'd likely suggest. You do have other options still... there are other file managers included with the project and there is always the command prompt if you are comfortable with using it of course.

I was able to get my info saved onto my external hdd with Unstoppable Copier. When i look at my system 32 folder i cant find the hal.dll file, but when i use a file recovery program, it says that it is there, in the system32 with the last date used, the day it crashed. So, i guess it's there but i cant see it. I could use the factory recovery disk but now it is bugging the hell out of me.
I thought maybe there was something wrong with the hal.dll so i tried to put a copy of it from the ubcd4win in my c drive's system32 with Unstopable, then planning to delete the old one but i dont see the supposed copied one anywhere and it is not found by any recovery programs.
I still cant get chkdsk to work under ntfs for dos either. Still getting "bad command or file name". WHen i do the Autocheck.exe under NTFS some info flashes on the screen quickly, i think i saw the word "error", and then it goes to ntfs for Dos. Is there something i need to do on the boot ini?　I do have the fastdetect and noexecute =optin
By the way have 8 load identifiers due to me trying to fix the boot ini file so many times. Is this bad? I checked it with Microsoft's site and it looks the same. please dont laugh at me...too much.