Re: Home Edition Startup Files

Hi, Chris.

I'm not sure what the actual problem is, but your message expresses some ideas that are pretty far off the mark. If we can clarify some of those, we may be able to concentrate on the real issues.

I have been told it is possible to manually start XP, which I'm guessing
means using command prompt. I have seen it done before but I cannot remember
how to do it - if someone knows how to do this then that would be very useful

I Recently used a XP boot floppy to load the PC and was told that a dll file
was missing from the system32 folder. Could anyone tell me how to restore
these files?

WinXP is not built on MS-DOS, and MS-DOS is not hidden anywhere within it - except for just enough to create an MS-DOS boot floppy. Note that this floppy would boot to MS-DOS, NOT to WinXP! I'm not sure what you mean by "manually start XP". As you know, the WinXP CD-ROM is bootable, and it contains a utility called the Recovery Console. The RC looks a lot like MS-DOS and uses many of the same commands, but it most definitely is NOT MS-DOS. Its main use is to make some repairs to WinXP that can't be done from the GUI, or when we can't boot into the GUI.

A WinXP boot floppy contains nothing but the few "system files" (NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOT.ini), and that copy of boot.ini must point to a valid WinXP installation already on the HD. WinXP is far too large to fit on a floppy or to actually be run from a floppy; it can only provide a way to work around a corrupt or missing System Partition (typically C:) on the HD normally used as the boot device.

The boot sector of the HDD seems to have become corrupted (which would seem
reasonable as the PC owner always directly switches off the power and never
uses the shut down procedure) and so XP cannot boot up.

Switching off the power without letting WinXP do its shutdown housekeeping (closing files, updating logs, etc.) is not a good idea, but it is seldom fatal. Many users (sadly) do this every day and WinXP is robust enough to recover gracefully when rebooting, in most cases.

The first physical sector of each HDD holds the Master Boot Record for that HDD. The first physical sector of each partition and of each logical drive (in the extended partition) holds the boot sector for that volume. The shutdown/startup process does not normally affect either of these. But an abrupt loss of power (from a lightning strike, a power failure, pulling the power cord - or from turning off the power switch) can cause an unpredictable electrical glitch at the read/write head that can mess up the data on the HD. And that head just might be over the directory or the MBR or the boot sector at the time. But these glitches don't happen as often as they did a few years ago.

I doubt that the MBR or the boot sector are the problem in your case. But, if they are, you can boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and use the RC to Repair them. Use FixMBR to repair the MBR and FixBoot to rewrite the System Files.

xp version of the blue screen of the death flashes up and the PC reboots

The BSOD is your friend. It has codes that usually point to the real cause of the problem. WinXP is set, by default, to "Automatically restart" on "System failure". As we all know, a simple reboot often fixes transitory computer problems. But when it doesn't, we are left with no clue as to the real problems unless we can interpret the memory dump. One of the first things I like to do after installing WinXP is to change the default. Go to System Properties | Advanced | Startup and Recovery \ Settings and remove the check from Automatically restart. Next time, instead of rebooting, the computer should halt with the BSOD onscreen. You will still have to reboot, by pressing the Reset button, but you'll have all the time you need to study the BSOD. If the codes are too cryptic, post them VERBATIM here and some guru (not me!) should be able to point you in the right direction.

If a missing HAL.DLL is your only problem, it should not be hard to fix. Yes, it should be in \Windows\system32, and a new version (dated 8/04/04) was included in SP2 last summer. There probably is a copy on your HD in the \Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386 folder. In fact, there should be several versions for use, depending on your computer hardware (halaacpi.dll and halmps.dll, for example). If you don't know the one you need, you might have to do an in-place upgrade so that WinXP Setup can detect your computer's hardware environment and select the proper one. (The in-place upgrade will completely reinstall WinXP, possibly fixing other problems in the process, while preserving installed applications and data, but it will take about as long as a clean install.)

Usually, when WinXP won't boot, and it can't be fixed by the Recovery Console, the in-place upgrade is the next logical step. See this KB article for Microsoft's instructions - or MVP Michael Stevens' version of the same thing:
How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q315341

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

I hope this helps.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Microsoft Windows MVP

"Chris" <Chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:C40AEB0B-7A38-409E-ADFA-8BA5498AC6A5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Hi,

I am busy trying to sort out a PC which is having start up problems.
The system is running Home Edition SP1.

The boot sector of the HDD seems to have become corrupted (which would seem
reasonable as the PC owner always directly switches off the power and never
uses the shut down procedure) and so XP cannot boot up.

The XP load screen
http://www.winsupersite.com/images/showcase/wxp_sg_clean_home_03.gif will
appear and the progress bar will scroll but as soon as this is finished the
xp version of the blue screen of the death flashes up and the PC reboots (I
think it is the blue screen of death, it is the screen which usually appears
when a fatal error occurs and the system does a memory dump before restarting)

I have tried booting Windows normally, booting in safe mode and booting with
the last known good config but the same thing happens each time.

I am wary of repairing the Windows install using the XP CD because last time
I did this it caused alot of problems and I ended up having to format the HDD.

I have been told it is possible to manually start XP, which I'm guessing
means using command prompt. I have seen it done before but I cannot remember
how to do it - if someone knows how to do this then that would be very useful

I Recently used a XP boot floppy to load the PC and was told that a dll file
was missing from the system32 folder. Could anyone tell me how to restore
these files?

the missing file is most definitely either HAL.DLL or hid.dll but i am not
sure which

Thanks
Chris 

.