Install of Windows XP SP2 MCE

I'm getting this message at startup: Windows_root\System32\Hal.dll missing or corrupt:

I found this MS article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477

Except the repair procedures don't work for me. When booting from CD and choosing the (R) Recovery console instead of seeing any type of menu or list I am eventually just dropped to a C: prompt. If I try the commands listed (bootcfg /rebuild) it says it can't access the C: drive. I cannot list the contents of C: either as it states it has some unknown problem. chkdsk on C won't work as it too says it has a problem.

So far I'm stuck. This is my PVR system and I'd like to be able to back up my SageTV settings otherwise I'm going to lose access to all my recorded shows from within its interface (as well as its settings of Watched shows). All the actual video content is recorded on other partitions and drives (D partition of same boot drive plus other separate drives).

Any help before I do something drastic like re-install Windows?

This type of issue has always been my greatest fear in running Windows. One day when you boot up the system will simply not work. It's like russian roulette every time you boot.

Is it a SATA drive? You may need to load the drivers before you can enter the recovery console.

I think you can boot from the CD, act like your installing Windows and then it should detect you already have windows installed and do a repair. The repair will copy all Windows files back to the system but leave your registry intact. Then just re-run Windows Update and you should be fine. The reason this probably happened though is because either your hard drive hiccuped and happened to destroy hal.dll (bad luck), or you got some kind of virus.

Definitely not a virus as I don't do any downloads on that PC - it's strictly a PVR and does nothing but run SageTV (and has for a couple of years with no configuration changes). Firewall is also enabled disallowing all external connections.

The disk is indeed SATA. I did select F6 to load extra drivers and the boot process to recovery was still the same. The last time I did the whole procedure chkdsk actually got 75% of the way through verifying C: and then gave up due to an unrecoverable error.

Because of this I don't believe trying to run through the Windows installation will help - it won't be able to find a previous Windows install if the partition can't be read successfully.

So I removed the disk and connected it externally to another machine. Disk Management sees both the primary and secondary partition and says they're both healthy. Explorer can only read from the second. The first comes up but can't be read.

In a little while I'll try giving it a go with some recovery tools from Acronis to see if I can at least read enough of that partition to rescue my SageTV configuration files. They're all I really want. After that point I won't mind completely reformatting that partition, doing a deep scan for errors and reinstalling plain old XP SP2 fresh. Of course the time-factor is a hassle because I'll also have to reinstall the drivers for the capture card, video card, etc...

What if you hook up the drive to a Mac or Linux machine? (never done this but might it be read???)

chkdsk won't complete (wrote above it only gets 75%)

Did try hooking it up to my Mac. Simply does not show the primary partition. Looking at it with Disk Utility shows the primary as unrecognized.

I'm about to try the Acronis recovery tool.... will update with results.. Wish me luck.

I plan to go with Linux/thin clients for my new house. Probably 2 years away, I should use that time to get up to speed really...

I know it's more stable, we've run several Xenix/Red Hat servers at work and I don't remember ever having a serious issue/rebuild on any of them.

The tool (plus a number of others I tried) wouldn't do anything. Partition recovery would only attempt to recover a partition that was actually missing, not simply one that can't be read. It just said no partitions to recover and there were no applicable tools to use on the partition I needed rescued.

Some file recovery tools also proved useless. They would scan the disk and produce nothing but errors.

Trying Disk Repair (chkdsk) from Windows' own properties window on that drive hooked up externally did nothing. It would simply close the window when pressing OK and not pop up a progress bar or anything.

So I'm doing what 99% of Windows users already know how to do. Reformat and re-install. It's the normal Windows repair procedure, always has been and always will be unfortunately. By some time later in the week the installation will hopefully be completed. It has always taken at least 2 days for a complete Windows install in my experience (to get all drivers and a couple of primary apps set up). hopefully the SageTV install doesn't take another few days of headaches.

After a lengthy amount of time of formatting the drive from Windows' installer, it comes back saying the format was unsuccessful. Any new reboot back into the installer is now unable to access that drive. Ugh. Oh well, the second 200GB drive to go in the shitcan in the past month. The first, unrelated drive, was knocked onto the floor from about 3 feet by my dogs while sitting on a small table last month.

So I just removed the dodgy drive and newly formatted one of my data drives that was already in the system for the Windows install. Now I need to pick up a new drive to pad the recording capacity back up. Blech.

I'm also sure that if MS had full and total control of the hardware that the situation would be a lot better. As it stands, we still have to put up with atrocious BIOS which should have been replaced over 15 years ago. Plus no such thing as hardware standards to speak of, where each and every device requires specialized drivers that obviously Windows doesn't ship with.

No matter how bad MS is, most hardware vendors catering to that market produce far worse software with even worse installers. ATI, Realtek, Promise, etc... All stuff I had to instal today. And on top of it all, I actually had to download a third party tool to tweak ATI graphics settings to be able to turn on Overscan on TV output. Can you believe that? I'd have had to install the 50MB ATI Catalyst Control Center just for that single feature otherwise.

Installing the brand new version of SageTV was in fact the least painful aspect of the whole afternoon. Of course I wish it could do something with files it has previously recorded - but it can't if you've lost your settings files.

The system seems to be fine right now doing what I need it to do. Play back and record TV on multiple tuners. I've not applied any Windows updates yet but will probably install a select few tomorrow. I'm definitely keeping automatic updates OFF.

Does anyone know how to (really) disable *all* pop-up messages from the tray area? I don't need to be reminded that some files haven't been used in a long time, to turn on auto update, etc... All the other shit Windows is constantly throwing in your face.

One *major* item I have to remember to download and install again is TweakUI. Gives me the opportunity to clean the dust out of the PC case and check to make sure all the fans are running OK. If I had any money I'd replace the case and power supply with fanless solutions - this thing is way too loud (Silverstone products).