Start Up

[ignis]

Wednesday morning started PC as normal, on desktop was a 'NEW' icon Norton Scan and it started scanning my PC..

I DID NOT download this, and it was not there on Tuesday.... I then went into the control panel and uninstalled Norton Scan... everything was fine until later in the day when I went to restart the PC...

Now when I simple switch on and walk away when I come back there is a black screen and at the top it says reinstall missing <windows root> system 32\hal.dll.

I have tried pressing DEL on start up to go into the Bios, but nothing happens..? just get the above.... So at the moment on start up I press F8.. a single blue box comes up and I use the down arrow to 1st HDD [windows Vista] and press ENTER, the PC will then start as normal..

Please how can/do I fix this ?

I run duel boot Vista Ultimate & XP Pro, I run AVAST 4.8 Pro anti Virus, run every day Advanced System Care, run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, but shows the PC as clean and free from any Virus, Trojans or Malware.

All are the legal software

I have 3 hard drives 2x 200GB and 1x 640GB inside the PC [+ 3x external] the above happens on start up even it I unplug all the HDD's and just have the HDD with the OS plugged in, I still have to press F8 and go down the the HDD and high light and press enter.

As I have Dual boot if I pop the Vista Ultimate CD in and copy the 'missing' <windows root> system 32\hal.dll. will this mess up the PC ? as to work the Vista boot is via the XP boot.. ??

[H2oDunc]

Boot up from either your XP or Vista disc and then use the repair option to replace any missing files. It doesn't sound like Norton but rather more like the anti virus 2009 virus. Good luck

[kudroz]

Wednesday morning started PC as normal, on desktop was a 'NEW' icon Norton Scan and it started scanning my PC..

I DID NOT download this, and it was not there on Tuesday.... I then went into the control panel and uninstalled Norton Scan... everything was fine until later in the day when I went to restart the PC...

Now when I simple switch on and walk away when I come back there is a black screen and at the top it says reinstall missing <windows root> system 32\hal.dll.

I have tried pressing DEL on start up to go into the Bios, but nothing happens..? just get the above.... So at the moment on start up I press F8.. a single blue box comes up and I use the down arrow to 1st HDD [windows Vista] and press ENTER, the PC will then start as normal..

Please how can/do I fix this ?

I run duel boot Vista Ultimate & XP Pro, I run AVAST 4.8 Pro anti Virus, run every day Advanced System Care, run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, but shows the PC as clean and free from any Virus, Trojans or Malware.

All are the legal software

I have 3 hard drives 2x 200GB and 1x 640GB inside the PC [+ 3x external] the above happens on start up even it I unplug all the HDD's and just have the HDD with the OS plugged in, I still have to press F8 and go down the the HDD and high light and press enter.

As I have Dual boot if I pop the Vista Ultimate CD in and copy the 'missing' <windows root> system 32\hal.dll. will this mess up the PC ? as to work the Vista boot is via the XP boot.. ??

Sounds like you had a virus and/or your antivirus removed an important file that was maybe infected. You would need to put back the file, but it's likely that other problems may surface. Maybe the following sites can help you:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm

http://forums.legitreviews.com/about6705.html

Reading about the cocktail of anti-bad-stuff software you're running on your computer -- have you considered buying a Mac?. They're not as expensive as you might think, there are good deals on a second-hand Macs in Thailand. You can always run Windows on your Mac in a virtual machine or dualboot (Bootcamp) if you ever need it. Your computing experience would be a lot better.

Edited May 24, 2009 by kudroz

[ignis]

Many thanks, will have a play about....

Don't need Dual Boot, as not used XP for at least 6+ months as Vista is much better and faster and now all the drivers and software are available.

So maybe better to just put the Vista boot into the start folder in Vista, and then delete XP from PC ?

[webfact]

This little program has saved me from disaster many times.

Its not free but you can trial it and it works on dual-boot too.

http://www.ayrecovery.com/

[Johnxxx]

This little program has saved me from disaster many times.

Its not free but you can trial it and it works on dual-boot too.

http://www.ayrecovery.com/

Those tools I find pretty useless. The worst thing is that they store the data on the HD with the data you backed up. So when your HD dies everything is gone. In addition to this they do not store all changes. After a while and some restores you might end up with complete scrap. For this reason I switched off the System Restore in WinXP. Good for nothing if you look closer at it.

I use a monthly partition copy to an external HD - I keep the last 6 months. During the month I test new software and if it is okay it will be installed on a clean partition copy and backed up again. Important data are backed up every week with a backup tool. To restore my system takes me less then an hour - my HD is 350 GB and full. Anyhow - despite my backups I check more problematic software in Sandboxie or with Altiris Software Virtualization. Easy to clean up afterwards and free.

And in addition to all this - the most important data - like personal videos and photos are stored at two locations (not the same building) - for the case that one location get's a problem - fire or whatever.

[Johnxxx]

I have 3 hard drives 2x 200GB and 1x 640GB inside the PC [+ 3x external] the above happens on start up even it I unplug all the HDD's and just have the HDD with the OS plugged in, I still have to press F8 and go down the the HDD and high light and press enter.

Do you have the correct boot order in the Bios? The system might try to start with the wrong HD.

Edited May 24, 2009 by Johnxxx