My desktop computer suffered a crash after installing Norton GoBack 4.0. Per the software?s instructions, I turned off Norton GoBack before Windows XP started and received the following error message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
Windows root \system32\hal.dll

Please re-install a copy of the above file.

I have two (2) 74GB Digital Raptor drives set as RAID 0 (drive C) and one(1) 120GB Digital WD1200JB(drive E - used for data storage). Computer configuration is listed below. I disconnected the power cable from the 120GB Digital WD1200JB drive and successfully performed a clean install on the RAID 0 drives from the manufacturer?s restore CD. I then booted up the computer and Windows XP loaded without problems. I then shut down the operating system, reconnected the power cable to the 120GB Digital WD1200JB and turned the power switch on which generated the following error message during the power up process:

Error Loading Operating System.

I have to either disconnect the WD1200JB drive or ,with the WD1200JB drive still connected, press the F8 key and select the RAID drives for the computer to boot up and load Windows XP. If I boot up using the ?F8 key? option, I?ll see all the connected drives under the ?My Computer? panel. However, the WD1200JB drive does not show any ?Total Size? nor ?Free Space? numbers. Double clicking on the WD1200JB drive causes a popup window to open stating ?The disk in drive E is not formatted ?Do You Want To Format It Now?.?. Now I am able to recover all the data from the WD1200JB drive using data recovery software. So my question then is how do I resolve the ?Error loading Operating System?? Will formatting the drive under Windows XP resolve the problem or is there a better approach?

Regards

============== Configuration =============

Operating System System Model:
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600)

Processor:
2.40 gigahertz AMD Opteron
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Main Circuit Board :
Board: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. SK8V Rev 1.xx
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 1002.019 12/10/2003

Drives:
PLEXTOR DVDR PX-712A [CD-ROM drive] (drive D)
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive] (drive A)

Promise 2+0 Stripe/RAID0 SCSI Disk Device (148.70 GB) -- WD Raptor SATA [Hard Drive] (2 x 74GB)-- drive 1 (drive C)
WD Caviar SE EIDE [Hard drive] (120.03 GB) -- drive 0, (drive E) SMART Status: Healthy

Memory Modules:
2048 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM0' has 512 MB (serial number SerNum0)
Slot 'DIMM1' has 512 MB

Local Drive Volumes:
C: (NTFS on drive 1 147.70GB 124.14GB free

Network Drives:
None

Controllers:
Standard floppy disk controller
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller]
VIA Bus Master IDE Controller

Bus Adapters:
VIA Serial ATA RAID Controller
WinXP Promise FastTrak 378 (tm) Controller
WinXP Promise RAID Console SCSI Processor Device
Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller (4x)

:smiley: Hey CarbonC,

Welcome to PCHF. We have terrific team of techs on staff here, and I am sure we will be able to help you resolve this.

Unfortunately, I think you panicked :cry: , The hal.dll error is the result of a problem with your boot.ini file, see here. It's a pretty easy fix. What I am afraid has happened is that the manufacturer restore to your OS has somehow now corrupted the connection with your storage HD. When you do a OES Restore, it changes all of the settings back to store bought original. When you originally installed the second HD, did you have to configure anything?

Do you have another computer that you could hook up the WD1200JB drive to to see if you can recover the files that way?

Look forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

LGW:
Thank you for the prompt reply. You're absolutely correct, I did panick. I was able to access and copy the data on the problem drive. So that's not the problem. The real problem is how do I resolve the "Error Loading Operating System" on the problem drive, so my computer will boot up normally. The hardware listed, is actual hardware installed by the vendor. I did not install any additional hard drives, etc.

Regards

:sad: I'm sorry to be right about that, panicking is the last thing you want to do.

But it's OK :grin: we'll get you fixed up.

If you didn't install the second harddrive, and it was part of the package when the computer came from the factory, you have to do the restore again, with the harddrive connected.

When you do an OES Restore, everything needs to be exactly the way it was when the computer was new, no accessories, printers and the like. But everything that was on it must be connected or the restore won't install correctly.

What made you disconnect the HD?

Look forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

LGW:
Had to disconnect the hard drive because the manufacturer's restore cd kept generating error messages and would close down. It was only after I disconnected the drive did the restore work.

Regards

LGW:
I did disconnect all peripheral devices, etc. which were not part of the original package before performing the manufacturer restore. Now here's my problem. All this happened a week ago and I now have my RAID drive(drive C) restored close to what it was before the crash. I do not want to go thru the manufacturer restore process again. So how would I accomplish resolving the drive issue w/o the restore?

Regards

:icon_scra That, sir, is an excellent question.

I'm going to have to research on that one a bit. I am assuming that you have no OS disks as you are using the Restore function. Seems to me like you would treat the WD1200JB as if you had bought it off of the rack.

In the mean time, one of our super hero hardware guys may have the answer.

I will get back to you as soon as possible.

TTFN

LGW