I have just spent all day trying to save my computer.. first thing in the morning it stalled and poped up with a blue screen (a light blue screen, not the usual blue screen error) that said windows had to shut down so as not to harm your system (something along this lines, it went by quick) When it was turning back on it said the Hal.dll file was missing, so of course I started looking around and got to the point where I just had to copy it to the system32 folder. It wouldn't go. After trying several ways of copying, I decided to take a look at the system32 folder, I tryed to run the "dir" command while there, and it came up with bad sector errors, and data transfer errors. I've tried starting the installer from dos (by running winnt.exe from the i386 foler on the cd) but it never gets past reading the first file. Ok.. maybe I'm just avoiding the inevitable.. anyone have any ideas other than Format or mes with hard drives back and forth? Oh yeah, I tried scandisking too (about the only scan-anything that works with in dos) and it stalls at 2%... Any help would be very much appreciated, -Tristan

Sounds like your hard drive is dying. Best advice is to visit the web page of the manufacture of your hard drive and download there diag software to test the hard drive for failure but from what you have already stated in your post I think it would be safe to say your HDD needs to be replaced. Laters, KTTD P.S It could also be the IDE ribbon cable but its not likely.

This will restaore the backup of the registry Get on-line and refer to Q307545, to see how to get a Restore point to get the registry to the last known usable state--unless you enjoy or want to re-install all of your applications (to reset registry entries. All data is safe. How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry that Prevents Windows XP from Starting (Q307545) The information in this article applies to: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Microsoft Windows XP Professional SUMMARY This article describes how to recover a Windows XP system that does not start because of corruption in the registry. This procedure does not guarantee full recovery of the system to a previous state; however, you should be able to recover data when you use this procedure. You can repair a corrupted registry in Windows XP. Corrupted registry files can cause a variety of different error messages. Please refer to the Knowledge Base for articles regarding error messages related to registry issues. This article assumes that normal recovery methods have failed and access to the system is not available except by using Recovery Console. If an Automatic System Recovery (ASR) backup exists, it is the preferred method for recovery; it is recommended that you use the ASR backup before you try the procedure described in this article. NOTE : Make sure to replace all 5 of the registry hives. If you only replace a single hive or two, this can cause potential issues, since software and hardware may have settings in multiple locations in the registry. MORE INFORMATION When you try to start or restart your Windows XP-based computer, you may receive one of the following error messages: Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate The procedure described in this article uses Recovery Console, System Restore, and lists all the required steps in specific order to ensure that the process completes fully. After you complete this procedure, the system should return to a state very close to the system before the problem occurred. If you have ever run NTBackup and completed a system state backup, you do not have to follow the procedures in parts two and three; you can skip to part four. Part One In part one, you boot to the Recovery Console, create a temporary folder, back up the existing registry files to a new location, delete the registry files at their existing location, and then copy the registry files from the repair folder to the System32\Config folder. When you are finished with this procedure, a registry is created that you can use to boot back into Windows XP. This registry was created and saved during the initial setup of Windows XP, so any changes and settings that took place after Setup completes are lost. To complete part one, follow these steps: Boot to the Recovery Console. At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines, pressing ENTER after you type each line: md tmp copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak delete c:\windows\system32\config\system delete c:\windows\system32\config\software delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam delete c:\windows\system32\config\security delete c:\windows\system32\config\default copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default NOTE : This procedure assumes that Windows XP is installed to the C:\Windows folder. Make sure to change C:\Windows to the appropriate windows_folder if it is a different location.

Thanks for the reply.. it's this fricking computer. STAY AWAY FROM ELITE PC. It took me 6 months to get a replacement hard drive when the one that came with the computer died. Now the replacement is dying. Every two weeks some peice of hardware becomes undetectable for one day (the next day, some how, it starts working again).. I don't know what peice inside this glorified trash can to blame it on... I gotta go buy me a dell ;)

Well here is some more bad news. You stated they replaced the HDD once already, ques what. They replaced it with a refurbished HDD, now don't get me wrong 99% of all computer suppliers do this. Maxtor, WD, Seagate, IBM, Ect, they all do it. But a refurb HDD is never as good as a new one in my opinion. Sorry to give ya the bad news but I've been in the PC business for way to long. Laters, KTTD

After all that I had to do and deal with fedex and them, they stick me with a refurbished seagate hard drive?!?!??! Well, I guess I have to go buy a new hard drive, save what I can from this one. Any of you know how to turn a hard drive to a bomb? -Tristan "Virtute et Armis"

No bombing please :) and yes you are better off purchasing a new HDD. Think happy thoughts :) KTTD