So, after finally fixing my laptop which was unable to boot for about two weeks due to hal.dll problems and PowerShadow problems, I decided to be an idiot and use Paragon HD Manager to make a partition on my laptop bigger and therefore another one (the system one) smaller. I am now unable to boot (again) due to the hal.dll error. I've tried to restore the image I made with Acronis (didn't fix the problem), I've tried booting into the XP Recovery Console (couldn't boot into it), and replacing the boot.ini file (didn't fix the problem). If you any ideas, please post them.
Thanks,
Joe
P.S. On the bright side, I'm going to be getting a tablet PC (Gateway C-142XL) for college. ![:D]()
Update:
I decided restore my Acronis image again. I edited my boot.ini file to boot into default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS. After that, I rebooted and the Windows logo came up ![:D]()
. It took a smaller amount of time to get to the logon screen than it usually does. The logon screen was not the usual logon screen (Welcome screen), but instead was the screen that you type your username and password in. My username was already in the username field, so I typed my password in. I was then presented with a black screen and was automatically logged out after some time. The same thing happed with the Administrator account. I tried Safe Mode, but the same thing (black screen, auto logoff) happened ![:(]()
.
I did some research a found that a repair install might help. I used my Dad's XP Pro disk to boot, pressed R and got the message "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer". I did some more research and found that I have a SATA harddrive and need a floppy drive and floppy disk with the driver for the SATA drivet o allow the XP disk to detect my hard disk.
Problem: I don't have a floppy drive. I could purchase a USB floppy drive, but I decided to see if anyone knows of a work around that uses a flash drive or CD or something else, rather than a floppy.
This is the link to the driver.
Doesn't look like there's a workaround that anyone knows of. Maybe it's time to do a complete format and reinstall.
A clean slate might be the best idea, providing of course that you can do that.
Then again, this bump might bring forth someone who missed your posts. Either way, good luck with it. You've had a sh***y time recently with that laptop.
You've had a sh***y time recently with that laptop.
You know it! ![;)]()
Anyway, I finally got the problem fixed yesterday night. I'm not even really 100% sure how I did it or why it worked. But, everything is back up and running smooth like velvet. I decided to be daring and used Acronis Disk Mangement to resize my partitions...and my computer still works! ![:o]()
Since I getting the tablet (it will be here this Thursday - at least that's what FedEx says), I'm giving my laptop to my younger sister.