Created partition - got HAL.DLL error

I just used DD 10 to create a small partition (100 MB) on a 160 GB drive. Shortly afterwards, I installed an upgrade to Plextor Tools for my DVD-RW drive, and it said I had to reboot. When I rebooted I saw this

"MBR ERROR 3" appeared briefly, then I got this message
"Windows could not start because this file is missing or corrupt:
<systemroot>\System32\HAL.DLL"

I tried several things to fix the problem, such as booting from my DD 10 Boot CD, and booting from the second hard drive. I also tried booting from the CD I created using mbrautowrite_en.iso from Acronis. Even after I re-wrote the MBR, I still got the same messages.

I Googled a bit, and some people said it might be a problem with the BOOT.INI file. I booted up my trusty Knoppix CD, and took a look at the BOOT.INI file. It looked fine to me.

Some other suggestions were to look at the HAL.DLL file, since it might REALLY be corrupt. The file in the "bad" Windows install was 134K in size, and those in other "good" Windows installs were 81K in size. So HAL.DLL did look fishy to me.

Now all I could think of was using the Windows XP Recovery Console. I booted off the Windows XP CD, and did the usual steps:

1. Run Fixmbr C:
2. Run Bootcfg /Rebuild to recreate the BOOT.INI file
3. EXIT and hope for success

I first tried looking at C:\BOOT.INI, but the file was GONE. I don't know what happened to it, since it was there a few minutes earlier.

When I ran FIXMBR, I got this warning message:

"This computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record. ... Do you really want to rewrite the MBR?"

This is what I expected to see - this means that FIXMBR had found the Acronis OS Selector boot information.

The next step was to run BOOTCFG / REBUILD to recover the BOOT.INI file. Based on past experience you should run FIXMBR first, and BOOTCFG second. When I exited the Recovery Console, I was finally able to boot into my regular Windows installation.

I have concluded that the new version of DD Suite 10 is unacceptable. I have wasted far too much time recovering from problems that should not have occurred in the first place.

I uninstalled Acronis OS Selector, and also uninstalled DD Suite 10 from my PCs. I want back to using DD Suite 9 instead. I will wait about 5 months for Acronis to get its act together.

 

Hello Rick_G,

Thank you for using Acronis Partition and Disk Managing Software.

Please create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

After that please submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko

 

i follow your instructions rick i now i have my Windows XP back
thanks , u save me from a full reinstall of everything.

 

Glad I saved you from a FULL reinstall.