Arrrgh!!! Cloning problem with Norton’s Ghost on Win XP

[MTOW]

I offered to do a ‘quick fix’ to a friend’s computer (as if there is such a thing!), and three days later, I’m still at it. Her hard drive is showing signs of dying, so I bought a new 80 gig Maxtor DiamondMax intending to clone the OS onto the new hard drive before the old one goes terminal. After God only knows how many attempts, after the clone, on start up with the new HD, I get the message (from memory) “Windows is unable to start because the following file is missing or corrupt <windows root> system32\hal.dll.” I’ve tried copying this file from the original hard drive onto the new HD to no effect.

The original HD continues to work fine (but for how long?), but I can’t convince the new one to get past this startup problem.

Anyone out there with a fix to this problem?

[timmcat]

I always used to recommend a little freeware program called HDcopy, but its no longer on download.com.

If you can find it, it does this job really well.

Tim

[fobotcso]

That's the DLL for XP's Hardware Astraction Layer. Protects the OS from flaky harware incompatibilities etc. Perhaps to do with the fact that the hardware database has changed.

My XP Pro has two both dated 20 Aug 2002.

One is 76 KB and the other 99 KB.

It's almost certainly a registration problem to do with "PerfLIB" in HKEY_Local_Machine\software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib\009.

KB320252 This is the problem described. Here's an extract:

SYMPTOMS

When Windows XP Setup restarts your computer during an upgrade from Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) or when you are installing Windows XP on a hard disk with no previous operating system, you may receive 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.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem:
Restart your computer, select the Cancel Windows XP Setup option (if it is available) in the Windows Advanced Options menu to uninstall Windows XP, and then run Windows XP Setup again. If this problem is resolved, skip the remaining steps. If your drive does not contain a previous operating system (the option to remove Windows XP is not available), or the problem still occurs the second time you try to upgrade to Windows XP, continue to the next step.

If you are upgrading from Windows 98 or Windows Me, restart your computer, and then select the Cancel Windows XP Setup option in the Windows Advanced Options menu to uninstall Windows XP. If you are not upgrading from Windows 98 or Windows Me, skip to the next step.

Start your computer with a Windows 98 or Windows Me Startup disk, type sys c: at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.For additional information about how to make a Windows 98 Startup disk, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

296532 How to Create a Windows 98 Startup Disk

For additional information about how to make a Windows Me Startup disk, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
267287 How to Create a Startup Disk in Windows Me

Start Windows XP Setup again.

[MTOW]

Thanks for that, fobotcso, but I’m afraid it doesn’t quite address my problem. I was trying to move a complex, (three users), fully set up operating system to a new and larger hard drive and hoping not to have to re-install a wagon load of software. Although, given all the time I’ve spent on it, I’d have been better off starting from scratch with a clean XP install on the new HD and then loading all the necessary software. I don’t have access to the copy of XP used for the original install, and even if I did, I understand that any re-install would overwrite what’s there already. Is that correct?

The experience has convinced me yet again that XP is something best seen on someone else’s computer. The crazy thing is, it copied without a hitch to another small HD, but even after I made a similar sized partition on the new HD, I got the same message, whilst on a third HD, I didn’t get the message and Win XP started, but froze on the startup page.

On the subject of system freezes, is there an equivalent command in Win XP to the CTL/ALT/DEL command to get into the Task Manager, as you can with Win2K?

[fobotcso]

is there an equivalent command in Win XP to the CTL/ALT/DEL

Yup. Its Ctrl/Alt/Del exactly as with Win2K. {Edit: in Win2K Ctrl/Alt/Del gets you "Windows Security", and Task Manager is an option from that dialogue box (Click on Task Manager or press "T"). In XP, Ctrl/Alt/Del goes straight to Task Manager and Shut Down options are found in a Menu Bar option.}

I understand that any re-install would overwrite what’s there already. Is that correct?

I've not done this but understand from "Richard" in another thread that this is a benign procedure that "repairs the installation as is possible with Win2K.

I think that there is something for you in that Microsoft procedure even though you are not technically upgrading from an older OS.

Worth giving it a second look, I would think. As long as the original partition is still intact and safe, what have you got to lose?

No original disk, eh? Trust you've thought about the possibility of Activation difficulties.

[Agent86]

MTOW,


I use a utility from maxtor called maxblast when I am upsizing a hard drive. This is available from here and is a free download.

Works fine on 95/98 ...

Not sure if XP is going to get upset due to activation when you change the hard drive.

You may have to use a partition utility after if you want to change the default partitions