In Windows XP, how do I see if my system is ntfs or fat 32 in BIOS

This friend's Compaq laptop she received as a gift won't startup. Gets
message... Windows couldn't start because following file is missing or
corrupt...
<WINDOWS> SYSTEM32/HAL.DLL. Please re-install a copy of the above file.

Anyway, she wants to do a complete wipe of the system and re-install
everything. Which I've been looking into. Only problem is, I've researched &
found the techniques are different depending on which version of file system
you have & that you have to go into "My Computer, Properties" to find that
out. Unfortunately, we can't get into Windows to get the info. that way. Is
there a way I can startup through BIOS and use DOS commands to get the info.
I need?
--
Schneffy

In news:24087041-8672-4516-A5A1-FA299FB42F63@microsoft.com,
Stephanie <Stephanie@discussions.microsoft.com> wibbled
> This friend's Compaq laptop she received as a gift won't startup. Gets
> message... Windows couldn't start because following file is missing
> or corrupt...
> <WINDOWS> SYSTEM32/HAL.DLL. Please re-install a copy of the above
> file.
>
> Anyway, she wants to do a complete wipe of the system and re-install
> everything. Which I've been looking into. Only problem is, I've
> researched & found the techniques are different depending on which
> version of file system you have & that you have to go into "My
> Computer, Properties" to find that out. Unfortunately, we can't get
> into Windows to get the info. that way. Is there a way I can startup
> through BIOS and use DOS commands to get the info. I need?

there is no DOS on the system, if you create a DOS boot disk and boot using
that you will either be able to read the contents of the hard drive (which
would mean it was FAT32) or will not be able to read the drive from DOS
which means it's NTFS

Have you tried pressing F8 while booting to get to safe mode?

--
Steve Parry
www.gwynfryn.co.uk

"Steve Parry" <k100rs_1990@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:O0tIXeyhHHA.960@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> In news:24087041-8672-4516-A5A1-FA299FB42F63@microsoft.com,
> Stephanie <Stephanie@discussions.microsoft.com> wibbled
>> This friend's Compaq laptop she received as a gift won't startup. Gets
>> message... Windows couldn't start because following file is missing
>> or corrupt...
>> <WINDOWS> SYSTEM32/HAL.DLL. Please re-install a copy of the above
>> file.
>>
>> Anyway, she wants to do a complete wipe of the system and re-install
>> everything. Which I've been looking into. Only problem is, I've
>> researched & found the techniques are different depending on which
>> version of file system you have

A misconception here - the existing file system on the HDD makes no
difference at all to how you re-install XP. The only difference between
types of install depend on whether your friend has a Recovery CD or an
actual Windows XP CD. If a recovery CD then you can't do anything about the
file type until after the install. If your friend has a proper Windows XP CD
you can re-format the HDD in NTFS as part of the install procedure.

HTH

Stephanie wrote:
> This friend's Compaq laptop she received as a gift won't startup. Gets
> message... Windows couldn't start because following file is missing or
> corrupt...
> <WINDOWS> SYSTEM32/HAL.DLL. Please re-install a copy of the above file.
>
> Anyway, she wants to do a complete wipe of the system and re-install
> everything. Which I've been looking into. Only problem is, I've researched &
> found the techniques are different depending on which version of file system
> you have & that you have to go into "My Computer, Properties" to find that
> out. Unfortunately, we can't get into Windows to get the info. that way. Is
> there a way I can startup through BIOS and use DOS commands to get the info.
> I need?

You do not need to reinstall Windows to fix the "missing hal.dll"
problem. Of course, if your friend wants to reinstall Windows for other
reasons, that's another story. First, here is how to fix the "missing
hal.dll" error:

From MVP Alex Nichol:

WINDOWS COULD NOT FIND START BECAUSE THE FOLLOWING FILE IS MISSING OR
CORRUPT
WINDOWS ROOT>\SYSTEM32\hal.dll

That message is rather misleading. It happens because the boot.ini file
that tells the boot where to look for 'Windows' is damaged, so it is
looking for files in the wrong place - hal.dll just happens to be the
first one it looks for. Set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard Disk. Boot
the XP CD and, instead of Setup, take the immediate R for Repair.
Assume any password requested is blank, and TAB over.

Use
Attrib -H -R -S C:\boot.ini
DEL C:\boot.ini
to delete the bad one
BootCfg /Rebuild

to search for Windows installations and make a new one.

Note that you will need to either boot to the Recovery Console if Compaq
has give you that as a boot option or use a real XP install disk to get
to the Recovery Console.

Second, if your friend really wants to reinstall Windows, the first
choice with a Compaq laptop is to use the Recovery Disks or Recovery
Method that came with the laptop. If there are no Recovery Disks, etc.
then the best solution is to contact Compaq and order replacements. They
will not be particularly expensive. Otherwise, here are instructions for
doing a clean install of Windows. In your friend's case, you will need
to use a generic OEM install disk that matches the version (Home, Pro.
MCE) installed.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...alling_Windows -
What you will need on-hand

Please note that in none of these cases do you need to know whether the
partitions are formatted FAT32 or NTFS.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

"Stephanie" <Stephanie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> This friend's Compaq laptop she received as a gift won't startup. Gets
> message... Windows couldn't start because following file is missing or
> corrupt...
> <WINDOWS> SYSTEM32/HAL.DLL. Please re-install a copy of the above file.
>
> Anyway, she wants to do a complete wipe of the system and re-install
> everything. Which I've been looking into. Only problem is, I've researched
> &
> found the techniques are different depending on which version of file
> system
> you have & that you have to go into "My Computer, Properties" to find that
> out. Unfortunately, we can't get into Windows to get the info. that way.
> Is
> there a way I can startup through BIOS and use DOS commands to get the
> info.
> I need?

You don't need to know this information to reinstall XP. It's done in one
of two ways:

1. Through the recovery process provided by the computer manufacturer
consisting of either a recovery CD or a hidden partition on the hard drive
that contains an image of the drive as received from the factory where the
recovery process is invoked by means some key combination pressed during
startup, or both.

Contact the tech support for the computer to get info on how the recovery
works on that system.

2. Install using an XP installation CD. Make sure you have all the XP
compatible drives for the computer on a CD. Get them from the laptop
manufacturer's web site.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

Since this is a used computer I agree with the decision to start fresh with
a clean install. That way you don't inherit any operational problems,
malware or other nasties.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]