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missing or corrupt file -> hal.dll when hard drive added to pc

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  • 01-02-2010 3:25pm
    #1
    DamoKen
    Registered Users Posts: 1,269 ✭✭✭


    Hi, bit of a puzzler here. Added a drive from an older machine today to my main pc. However I can't seem to boot up when I connect it. The full error is Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt <Windows Root>system32/hal.dll

    This drive only has data on it, no system files.

    The board is a BFG nForce 680i Sli. I can set 3 boot device types, i.e hard disk, cd-rom etc and it will go through each 1,2,3. Currently I have the boot devices 1 & 2 set to hard drive and 3 to removable device.

    I can also set hard drive priority so it will go to whichever drive I have my windows installation on first.

    To discount a drive failure I put the new drive back in my old machine which booted up fine. I was then able to access that drive without any problems.

    I've swapped drives into different machines in the past and I'm sure I was able to do it without incident so a bit confused as to why this is happening now.

    Any suggestions/advice appreciated as always.

    Cheers


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    #2
    mp22
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Regional South Moderators Posts: 6,854 Mod ✭✭✭✭mp22


    By any chance dose the drive need a jumper to set it as a slave drive?


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    #3
    Solitaire
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    Are those PATA devices? And are you sure you have them the right way around in the Boot Order?


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    #4
    DamoKen
    Registered Users Posts: 1,269 ✭✭✭DamoKen


    hi mp22, should have mentioned all drives including the one I just put in are sata drives so there's no jumpers on them. the only difference I can see with the drive's I've already got in the machine and the new one is I'm using the older wider sata cable plus a standard power connector as opposed to the sata power connector on the other drives. Shouldn't make a difference though I would think?

    It's definitely this drive that causes the problem though. The current setup is one raptor with WinXp installed and two seagate 500GB drives. Once I add the older Hitachi drive I get an error. Put it back in my old machine and it boots fine off the boot drive and I can then access the data. Really stumped!


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    #5
    DamoKen
    Registered Users Posts: 1,269 ✭✭✭DamoKen


    Solitaire wrote: »
    Are those PATA devices? And are you sure you have them the right way around in the Boot Order?

    sorry, only saw your reply after I posted. Yeah the boot priority is definitely right, checked bios after adding and the new drive appears last. remove it and it's gone as expected from boot priority and the machine boots with no problem, leave it attached and can't boot


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    #6
    Solitaire
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    I'll leave this just a bit longer then move it to C&T to see if there's some more wisdom to be had there. Definitely a flaky one here! Worst part is I'm sure I've had some SATA drives do this to me before and I can't remember what I did :( Other than swear a lot... :o

    Last nugget: remove all HDDs except the OS drive (Raptor?) and the troublemaker. See if you get any joy that way. I assume you're just putting it in temporarily to do something with the contents right? If its a permanent switch just back up any relevant contents then format and transplant.


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    #7
    witnessmenow
    Registered Users Posts: 7,153 ✭✭✭witnessmenow


    sata drive are hot swappable,

    Plug in the power to the drive before turning on the computer, but dont plug in the sata cable till your in windows.

    You could do worse than try it anyways!


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    #8
    DamoKen
    Registered Users Posts: 1,269 ✭✭✭DamoKen


    Solitaire wrote:
    Last nugget: remove all HDDs except the OS drive (Raptor?) and the troublemaker. See if you get any joy that way. I assume you're just putting it in temporarily to do something with the contents right? If its a permanent switch just back up any relevant contents then format and transplant.

    yep this was going to be my next move, if that didn't resolve it backup to an external, format in my old machine and see if I could install as a new drive.
    witnessmenow wrote: »
    sata drive are hot swappable,

    Plug in the power to the drive before turning on the computer, but dont plug in the sata cable till your in windows.

    You could do worse than try it anyways!

    tried this and bingo! see's the drive no problem, has said it's installed and ready to use, reports as healthy through disk management but still can't boot with it attached.

    Last option, going to copy all data over to existing drives, format through disk manager and see if that works. only thing I can think of is that there's a corrupted boot sector on the drive? I think I may have installed Windows on it a few years back temporarily and removed it since. Doesn't explain why it doesn't give me any problems on the other machine though :confused:

    will update after I've formatted. thanks again for the helpful comments! :)


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    #9
    DamoKen
    Registered Users Posts: 1,269 ✭✭✭DamoKen


    no joy, removed the partition for the drive, recreated and formatted and still not able to boot if it's connected. out of ideas at this stage, and tired so admitting defeat for the night.

    any enlightenment as to why this might still be happening really appreciated!


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