( thanks to GuestToo (Puppy Master) and jcoder24 for showing me the Light
)
When you press your Cmptas_startbutton, first it does a bios check which involves testing/communicating with your hardware and seeing what you have (new/old) on your cmpta, when it's satisfied with that working it goes to your Hd to look for your mbr, which is where your operating system takes over (software). You should be very carefull with using 'thirdparty software' to fix/manipulate your XP, the only software i've used for XP, to change partiton size, is partition manager. Which i can vote for as actually functioning.
If a bootloader runs when you boot, either it is installed in the mbr or it is installed in the boot sector of whatever partition that has the boot flag enabled, the mbr is the first sector (512 bytes) of the entire hard drive, then each partition also has a boot sector ... the first sector (512 bytes) of the partition.
All a Windows mbr_program does is to find the first bootable partition on the drive and transfers control to the boot sector of the partition.
The boot sector of a Win 9x partition looks for IO.SYS, loads it in ram and starts executing it.
The boot sector of a Win XP partition looks for NTLDR, loads it in ram, and starts executing it so your 'XP machine' will load and execute the mbr, which should transfer control via the boot sector of C: (normally hda1) to your OS ...
you either have your bootloader installed on the mbr or on a partitions boot sector, or both.
To fix the mbr, if you have a standard Win cd (as opposed to a system restore cd), you boot it and run the recovery console (password required),
FIXMBR
ex: fixmbr \Device\HardDisk0 ( writes a new master boot record to the device specified: )
FIXBOOT
ex: fixboot d: (writes a new partition boot sector to the system partition in drive D
fixmbr writes over the mbr
fixboot writes over the boot sector
( see
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d...ns_fixmbr.mspx )
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If you're getting past the your bootmanager and get f ex. 'error hal.dll missing' when starting up your XP... check this.
Hal.dll = a WinXP specific problem often with dual_boot .
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"This situation occurs when setting up a dual boot situation with Windows 2000 and Windows XP (it may occur with other setups). After Windows XP's install routine has finished copying files, and is ready to boot to the GUI portion of SETUP, you may receive the 'Hal.dll missing' error. This has been traced to an incorrect BOOT.INI file
HAL is Microsoft's abbreviation for the Hardware Abstraction Layer.
HAL prevents applications from directly accessing your PC's system memory, CPU, or hardware devices, HAL also slows or stops DOS games and programs, which need to load their own memory managers or control hardware directly for better performance.
With HAL in the way, developers must rewrite or even abandon their older software in favor of newer, HAL-compatible versions. Microsoft has pressured hardware makers to provide or support technologies such as MMX, DirectX, and 3D technologies, but, frankly, most older DOS-based, and even some Windows-based, games simply won't work with the new OS.
Tip: To see which HAL is currently installed, open Device Manager, and expand the Computer branch. The entry that appears in this branch corresponds to the currently installed HAL.
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It's a common problem (hal.dll) in dualbooting Linux/XP to.
Here's some suggestions when dual_booting goes amok
1. if you had W98 first, then installed linux and used it's (grub/lilo) multiboot option and now want to get back to only W98. use your W98 install_cd. Just install it as usual with whatever defaults you used last time you installed it.
F ex the place you installed windows to, default is c:\windwows, if you changed that last time you installed to f ex c:\w98 , then just make your new installation to the same drectory. That will give you back your original installation with all your software in place.
Or make a boot floppy, then 'cd c:' then use 'cd windows' ( if that was your former placement/default ), then 'cd command' to got to your C:\windows\command.
Finish by writing ' fdisk /mbr ' while being in C:\windows\command.
Reboot, hopefully you will now have your W98 back.
You will lose access to your linux though it will still exist on your linuxpartition.
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2. if you had xp first and then installed linux with its (grub/lilo) bootmanager. Then you shold be able to see/boot into XP whereafter it hangs. And the problem is this hal.dll... Press 'f8' directly after chosing to boot into your XP to test.
Chose 'safe mode'. If it's hal.dll you could try the options furth down with Cd and Recovery Console. Just remember that the problem isn't really hal.dll but the incorrect BOOT.INI file, so it wont help to just put in a new hal.dll.
You should first try to make a correct BOOT.INI file, if that doesn't help you continue with installing a new hal.dll.
(XP_1)
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1. Configure the computer to start from the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. For information about how to do this, see your computer documentation, or contact your computer manufacturer.
2. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.
3. When you receive the "Press any key to boot from CD" message, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM.
4. When you receive the "Welcome to Setup" message, press R to start the Recovery Console.
5. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you have to use from the Recovery Console.
6. When you are prompted, type the administrator password, and then press ENTER.
7. At the command prompt, type bootcfg /list, and then press ENTER. The entries in your current Boot.ini file appear on the screen.
8. At the command prompt, type bootcfg /rebuild, and then press ENTER.
This command scans the hard disks of the computer for Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows NT installations, and then displays the results. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to add the Windows installations to the Boot.ini file. For example, follow these steps to add a Windows XP installation to the Boot.ini file:
a. When you receive a message that is similar to the following message, press Y: Total Identified Windows Installs: 1
[1] C:\Windows
Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All)
b. You receive a message that is similar to the following message: Enter Load Identifier
This is the name of the operating system. When you receive this message, type the name of your operating system, and then press ENTER. This is either Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.
c. You receive a message that is similar to the following: Enter OS Load options When you receive this message, type /fastdetect, and then press ENTER. Note: The instructions that appear on your screen may be different, depending on the configuration of your computer.
9. Type exit, and then press ENTER to quit Recovery Console. Your computer restarts, and the updated boot list appears when you receive the "Please select the operating system to start" message.
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Of_course this may expect you to have used XP:s bootmanager to install linux - which you didn't, right, but it should give you your XP back.
You will lose access to your linux though. Most probably, it will find your linuxpartition to and offer to partition it into NTFS to, or Fat32, if thats more to your liking. At least i believe you should have this option somwhere.
You have to ...read carefully... before acting.
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And...(XP_2)
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IF HAL.DLL still is 'Missing' you could try this.
Boot from your CD and follow the directions below to start Recovery Console. Insert the Setup compact disc (CD) and restart the computer. If prompted, select any options required to boot from the CD.
When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts;
choose the repair or recover option by pressing R.
If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot system, choose the installation that you need to access from the Recovery Console.
When prompted, type the Administrator password. (if you didn't create one try pressing enter).
At the system prompt, type Recovery Console commands; type help for a list of commands, or help commandname for help on a specific command.
Most likely you will need to expand the file from the CD. The command would be expand d:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32\hal.dll.
Substitute d: for the drive letter of your CD. Once you have expanded the file type "exit" to exit the Recovery Console and restart the computer.
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No Mind
Never matter
.......................F I N A L L Y...........To be able to use a boot_floppy in XP-
You can completely bypass the mbr, boot sector, and boot files quite easily from a boot floppy (or boot cd) ...........
1) see XXTB #33 at
http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy33.htm.
just boot your homemade floppy and XP should boot the boot, hopefully .
(2) There exist an alternative way to make your boot at:
http://www.xxclone.com/
and on
http://www.ranish.com/part/
But read up on this first and check especially the helpfiles before doing anything.
(again: Thanks to GuestToo (Puppy Master) and jcoder24 for pointing me the way
)
