Windows XP reinstall after hard drive failure

My computer runs Windows XP Home and has a primary hard drive with the OS
installed, and a secondary hard drive used strictly for data backup. The
computer will no longer boot, and I received an error message referring to a
“missing or corrupt hal.dll file�.

I used Recovery Console to:

- attempt to replace the missing or corrupt hal.dll file with no success
because “Access is denied�.
- attempt bootcfg /rebuild with no success because “Failed to successfully
scan disk�.
- attempt to use chkdsk /r with no success because “The volume appears to
contain one or more unrecoverable problems�.

I now assume my recourse is to reinstall Windows XP to get the computer to
boot. My questions are:

- Should I reinstall XP to the primary hard drive or is that a waste of
time because of the “unrecoverable problems�? Will reinstalling XP on the
primary drive overwrite any of my data on that drive?
- Is it better to install XP to the secondary drive? Since there is
already data on the secondary hard drive, can XP be installed into a new
folder without overwriting my existing data backups?

iratlo wrote:
> My computer runs Windows XP Home and has a primary hard drive with
> the OS installed, and a secondary hard drive used strictly for data
> backup. The computer will no longer boot, and I received an error
> message referring to a "missing or corrupt hal.dll file".
>
> I used Recovery Console to:
>
> - attempt to replace the missing or corrupt hal.dll file with no
> success because "Access is denied".
> - attempt bootcfg /rebuild with no success because "Failed to
> successfully scan disk".
> - attempt to use chkdsk /r with no success because "The volume
> appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems".
>
> I now assume my recourse is to reinstall Windows XP to get the
> computer to boot. My questions are:
>
> - Should I reinstall XP to the primary hard drive or is that a
> waste of time because of the "unrecoverable problems"? Will
> reinstalling XP on the primary drive overwrite any of my data on
> that drive? - Is it better to install XP to the secondary drive?
> Since there is already data on the secondary hard drive, can XP be
> installed into a new folder without overwriting my existing data
> backups?

Disconnect your secondary drive.

Download (on another computer) the hard disk drive manufacturer's diagnostic
utility and create a bootable CD for it or hook the primary drive as a slave
(or USB device) to another system and test the hard disk drive for errors.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

"Shenan Stanley" wrote:

> iratlo wrote:
> > My computer runs Windows XP Home and has a primary hard drive with
> > the OS installed, and a secondary hard drive used strictly for data
> > backup. The computer will no longer boot, and I received an error
> > message referring to a "missing or corrupt hal.dll file".
> >
> > I used Recovery Console to:
> >
> > - attempt to replace the missing or corrupt hal.dll file with no
> > success because "Access is denied".
> > - attempt bootcfg /rebuild with no success because "Failed to
> > successfully scan disk".
> > - attempt to use chkdsk /r with no success because "The volume
> > appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems".
> >
> > I now assume my recourse is to reinstall Windows XP to get the
> > computer to boot. My questions are:
> >
> > - Should I reinstall XP to the primary hard drive or is that a
> > waste of time because of the "unrecoverable problems"? Will
> > reinstalling XP on the primary drive overwrite any of my data on
> > that drive? - Is it better to install XP to the secondary drive?
> > Since there is already data on the secondary hard drive, can XP be
> > installed into a new folder without overwriting my existing data
> > backups?
>
> Disconnect your secondary drive.
>
> Download (on another computer) the hard disk drive manufacturer's diagnostic
> utility and create a bootable CD for it or hook the primary drive as a slave
> (or USB device) to another system and test the hard disk drive for errors.
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
> --
> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
>

I disconnected the secondary drive. I used the Western Digital Data
Lifeguard Tools to check the drive for errors. The "Multi Zone Error Rate"
was below the threshold (1 for threshold 51). There was no option to repair
errors.

bad memory stick or bad cable can cause your symptoms. if 2 sticks of
memory, pull one and see.
etc.


"iratlo" <iratlo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:67BCCD71-6B41-44CE-8DEE-35EF2229C63C@microsoft.com...
>
>
> "Shenan Stanley" wrote:
>
>> iratlo wrote:
>> > My computer runs Windows XP Home and has a primary hard drive with
>> > the OS installed, and a secondary hard drive used strictly for data
>> > backup. The computer will no longer boot, and I received an error
>> > message referring to a "missing or corrupt hal.dll file".
>> >
>> > I used Recovery Console to:
>> >
>> > - attempt to replace the missing or corrupt hal.dll file with no
>> > success because "Access is denied".
>> > - attempt bootcfg /rebuild with no success because "Failed to
>> > successfully scan disk".
>> > - attempt to use chkdsk /r with no success because "The volume
>> > appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems".
>> >
>> > I now assume my recourse is to reinstall Windows XP to get the
>> > computer to boot. My questions are:
>> >
>> > - Should I reinstall XP to the primary hard drive or is that a
>> > waste of time because of the "unrecoverable problems"? Will
>> > reinstalling XP on the primary drive overwrite any of my data on
>> > that drive? - Is it better to install XP to the secondary drive?
>> > Since there is already data on the secondary hard drive, can XP be
>> > installed into a new folder without overwriting my existing data
>> > backups?
>>
>> Disconnect your secondary drive.
>>
>> Download (on another computer) the hard disk drive manufacturer's
>> diagnostic
>> utility and create a bootable CD for it or hook the primary drive as a
>> slave
>> (or USB device) to another system and test the hard disk drive for
>> errors.
>>
>> --
>> Shenan Stanley
>> MS-MVP
>> --
>> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
>> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>>
>>
>
> I disconnected the secondary drive. I used the Western Digital Data
> Lifeguard Tools to check the drive for errors. The "Multi Zone Error
> Rate"
> was below the threshold (1 for threshold 51). There was no option to
> repair
> errors.