[alionline]

Dear fellows,

One of my Dell laptop is causing problems starting up. I know it got that google virus and now I can't boot xp home ed, not even in safe boot. When I restart the computer, I get a msg saying 'windows root system32 hal.dll is missing or corrupt, please insert disk to install the file' something in that context. I can't even boot in safe mood to install this file or do anything.

So far I have done the following...
I booted the laptop with the xp cd and went in the recovery console
I ran attrib -h-r-s c:\boo.ini it gave me a message file cannot be opened
Still I ran Del c:\boot.ini it gave me a message saying an error occurred during directory enumeration
I ran bootcfg /rebuild the msg I got was failed to successfully scan disk. May be a corrupt file system, which would prevent bootcfg from successfully scanning.
I ran chkdsk...it runs and at 32% it gives an error....The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems.

I followed the instruction on the windows xp repair site with the xp cd, in part one, after pressing F8 to agree the T&C, I came across the following:
* The following list shows the existing partions and unpartitioned space on this computer.
* To Set up windows xp on the selected item, press enter
* To creat a partition in the unpartitioned space, press c
* To delete the selected partitioned press d

38155 MB Disk 0 at ID 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]
-: Partion1 [FAT] 55 MB < 47 MB Free>
C: Partition2 [Unknown] 38092 MB <38091 MB Free>
Unpartitioned space 8 MB

When I select partion 1 I get this msg
The partition or the unpartitioned space you selected is to small for xp to set up

When I select unpartitioned space the get the same above msg
When I select Partitoned 2 I get the following msg
The partiton is either too full, damaged, not formatted or formated with an incompatible file system. To continue installing windows setup must formar this partition.

I am not able to go to part 2 of the xp repair guide.

What should I do next?

Thank you for your help.

I dont want to format the HDD as he has some files which are imp and dont wana loose them.

Thank you.

Kind Regards,
Ali

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If the drive is not defective, you can try Puppy Linux to save your data. PUPPY LINUX - How to backup your data using, Windows Made Easy

Try Puppy first, then try the drive manufacturers hard drive diagnostic tool to see if there is something physically wrong with it.

Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
Bootable Hard Drive Diagnostics

If not, you could then try a Clean Install.

[Ztruker]

If the drive is not defective, you can try Puppy Linux to save your data. PUPPY LINUX - How to backup your data using, Windows Made Easy

Try Puppy first, then try the drive manufacturers hard drive diagnostic tool to see if there is something physically wrong with it.

Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
Bootable Hard Drive Diagnostics

If not, you could then try a Clean Install.