Hi I cannot get my computer to start up, as its booting I get the error Invalid BOOT.INI file then it tells me the hal.dll file is either missing or corrupt, and to re-install this file. I have tried using my Windows disk to boot but on booting it tells me that the computer is already in the proces of being upgraded! Which is news to me! If I try and continue the current upgrade it comes back with the error saying it cant locate the windows installation I want to upgrade, If I install a new version of windows will I loose any data? as the PC contains my University thesis and is too valuable to loose! If I exit the installation I am back to where I started. I thought BartPE might be able to help me but it just boots up in the same way as the Windows disk, giving me the option to continue the install. Is there a way if creating the BartPE disk so it gives me access to my drive so I can put a new copy of hal.dll in the system32 folder, without teh Windows setup data? Any help would be much appreciated Cheers
Ussually this is cause when the boot.ini is pointing to the wrong partition. Editing the boot.ini is a little complicated if you have never done before. Another thing you can do is to reslot the partitions, this way you move the partitions instead of modifying the boot.ini file. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314477 There's 2 programs that can do this types of repairs, you can use the demo of "paragon justboot corrector" to analyze your boot drive, maybe the problem will be obvious. justboot demo http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/downloads/JustBoot_Boot_Corrector_38938_p/ the other program is "avanquest partition commander version 10" , that program has a boot cd, with a boot corrector utility built-in. The only time I've seen these type of problems is when I have done a restoration of windows xp. notes editing boot.ini http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/multiboot/boot_ini.htm http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/bootini.htm#Ex http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;289022