Any Computer Wiz's Here??

[cormac]

hi there, i have a dell latitude cpi (i know its old but it gets things done ) so anyway, it wont turn on anymore. i tried booting from cd but it wont work
when i turned it on a few hours ago i got this 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

so i booted up the xp disc and i decided i wanted to install xp again cause i wanted to clear the hard drive.
when i went t install it this came up:

6190 Mb disc 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]
-: partion 1 [unknown] 6181 MB <6181 mb free>
unpartioned space 8 MB

Then clicked to install it on partion 1 and an error message came up:

an error occured while setup was updating partition information on:
6190 mb disc 0 at id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]
setup cannot continue

well thats it can anyone tell me how to fix it please??

 

[jmetal88]

Sounds like you might need to manually repartition your hard drive.

I can't really help with that with XP, because I haven't really done it.

 

[Yono]

Yep, here you go:
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=313

If this doesn't work, just let us know.

 

[cormac]

Yep at here you go:
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=313

If this doesn't work, just let us know.

no that didnt work

could i delete the partition and create a new one?

 

[jmetal88]

Yep at here you go:
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=313

If this doesn't work, just let us know.

no that didnt work

could i delete the partition and create a new one?

That's basically what I was suggesting.

 

[cormac]

do you (or anyone) know how to do that?

 

[cormac]

ok if i delete the main partition (partition 1) and create a new partition can i create it over 8mb and have it as the same size as my hard drive?

 

[jmetal88]

ok if i delete the main partition (partition 1) and create a new partition can i create it over 8mb and have it as the same size as my hard drive?

8 mb?!?!

No wonder windows won't install!

j/k I'm pretty sure you're meaning 8 gb. :lol:

You will only be able to create a partition the same size as your hard drive if you delete all partitions, not just the main one.

 

[GeminiDomino]

ok if i delete the main partition (partition 1) and create a new partition can i create it over 8mb and have it as the same size as my hard drive?

8 mb?!?!

No wonder windows won't install!

j/k I'm pretty sure you're meaning 8 gb. :lol:

You will only be able to create a partition the same size as your hard drive if you delete all partitions, not just the main one.

Actually, I think he meant the 8MB "unpartitioned space."

I really have no idea why the windows setup does that. It seems so wasteful.

 

[Yono]

Yep at here you go:
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=313

If this doesn't work, just let us know.

no that didnt work

could i delete the partition and create a new one?

That's basically what I was suggesting.

I know, I was trying to help him without formatting his harddrive. If it doesn't work (which it didn't), then he should of course delete the partition and create a new one.

 

[refractor]

an error occured while setup was updating partition information on:
6190 mb disc 0 at id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]
setup cannot continue

well thats it can anyone tell me how to fix it please??

1. Check your BIOS for any options that protect your partition table from viruses (disable it only during the install)
2. Get a HD check utility and run it on the drive. If it already lost the HAL.dll file then it's probably dying anyway and there's no point reinstalling or continuing 'cos it'll just drop dead on you or lose files for you again.

The Ultimate Boot CD has a nice array of HD testing tools, partitioning tools, etc.

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

May I ask, when you get to the section on the XP install that allows you to repartition the drive, do you see any other partitions apart from the 8meg free section? If so, delete the other partitions. I'm assuming here there's no data on the drive you wish to keep.

Oh by the way, in another thread on this forum I posted a hard drive wipe utility disk that I put together. If you want to start 100% from fresh, this will do it for you. you can get it here. This will wipe ALL drives in the system. You will need a blank floppy as it's a floppy image, and I have included the program to create the floppy in the zip file.

 

[cormac]

May I ask, when you get to the section on the XP install that allows you to repartition the drive, do you see any other partitions apart from the 8meg free section? If so, delete the other partitions. I'm assuming here there's no data on the drive you wish to keep.

Oh by the way, in another thread on this forum I posted a hard drive wipe utility disk that I put together. If you want to start 100% from fresh, this will do it for you. you can get it here. This will wipe ALL drives in the system. You will need a blank floppy as it's a floppy image, and I have included the program to create the floppy in the zip file.

i think i will try kill drive. do i just select to start from the diskette drive and will it do it automatically?

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

May I ask, when you get to the section on the XP install that allows you to repartition the drive, do you see any other partitions apart from the 8meg free section? If so, delete the other partitions. I'm assuming here there's no data on the drive you wish to keep.

Oh by the way, in another thread on this forum I posted a hard drive wipe utility disk that I put together. If you want to start 100% from fresh, this will do it for you. you can get it here. This will wipe ALL drives in the system. You will need a blank floppy as it's a floppy image, and I have included the program to create the floppy in the zip file.

i think i will try kill drive. do i just select to start from the diskette drive and will it do it automatically?

First of all create the disk by running DSKCLONE.EXE and selecting Load Image File. Select KILLDRV.DSK. Insert a blank floppy and press Duplicate, this should create the Kill Drive diskette. Insert the Disk into the machine to be wiped and boot off it then follow the screen prompts. Please note, THIS WIPES ALL IDE DRIVES in the system. So if you have any drives with data on that you want to keep, you better disconnect them.

EDIT: Can I just say this again. This disk wipes EVERYTHING off ALL IDE Drives. Please be sure you want to do this before running killdrive. I don't want any come back because they had a 2nd hard drive with valuable data on it. The disk does have 3 warning screens before proceeding, and you have to press Y then E and finally S (YES) before it goes ahead.

One more thing, after Killdrive is run, the batch files delete the EXE off the floppy. So if you want to use it more than once, you need to write protect the floppy disk. The main reason for this is that killdrive is quite a dangerous disk to have laying around, and I wanted it to have some form of safety feature on it. When I distribute it, the write protect tab is usually glued in the write protect off position, so once it's been used, it's rendered useless....

 

[cormac]

yeah i did that and then i went to install xp again but when i click to install it on 'unpartioned space 6190mb'
it does nothing. i think i just wrecked the laptop

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

yeah i did that and then i went to install xp again but when i click to install it on 'unpartioned space 6190mb'
it does nothing. i think i just wrecked the laptop

Instead of just clicking install, create the partition first. And make sure it's NTFS not FAT32.

 

[cormac]

i tried to create a partition but when i create it it automatically creates 6189mb and goes back to the install screen and i click to install it but nothing happens

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

i tried to create a partition but when i create it it automatically creates 6189mb and goes back to the install screen and i click to install it but nothing happens

I'm going through a reinstall of XP later on tonight. if you want I will detail it for you?

 

[refractor]

i tried to create a partition but when i create it it automatically creates 6189mb and goes back to the install screen and i click to install it but nothing happens

Have you checked the hardware yet? It really does sound like a borked drive.

 

[cormac]

thanks warmfluffy but it might be the hard drive because it is making weird sounds and a error message is coming up about not being able to read it or something.well now i have an excuse to upgrade the drive anyway.goodbye 6.5gigs!!