Rescuing HDD [SOLVED]

[Riki]

Profusely apologize OP for having jumped the gun. You've certainly had more patience than me, it should have been the other way round. It's been a looooong drawn out affair and suddenly, this morning, it hit me and got tired of it all, hence my action, calculated though, I knew we were almost there.

It's been quite an experience for me and I've learned more about Linux in the last 2 weeks than I had ever imagined I would. A crash course so to speak. If you ever need something from me (outside computing - I will never achieve your level, too late for my 74 year old brain) just holla! 

[Old-Polack]

Profusely apologize OP for having jumped the gun. You've certainly had more patience than me, it should have been the other way round. It's been a looooong drawn out affair and suddenly, this morning, it hit me and got tired of it all, hence my action, calculated though, I knew we were almost there.

It's been quite an experience for me and I've learned more about Linux in the last 2 weeks than I had ever imagined I would. A crash course so to speak. If you ever need something from me (outside computing - I will never achieve your level, too late for my 74 year old brain) just holla! 

Don't worry about it. I like doing this, and learn new stuff all the time, while doing it. It would have been nice to have had Windows be a bit more cooperative though. 

[Riki]

It would have been nice to have had Windows be a bit more cooperative though.  Grin Grin
   Logged

Yes, you can say that again. I will attempt to rescue the XP partition at some point (right now I wouldn't know where to start!) but at the moment I am going to forget about it and concentrate on re-building Minime.

[Riki]

The Windows install is missing the hal.dll not ha1.dll. (hardware abstraction layer) You'll need to borrow a XP installation disk to reinstall that library.

I mounted Windows, trashed HAl.DLL (in capital letters) replaced it with the hal.dll transferred from another machine also running Windows but it still won't boot and I'm getting the same dialog box.

I have found an XP disk, shall I attempt the recovery tool in it without fear of upsetting the newly created Minime system?

[Old-Polack]

I mounted Windows, trashed HAl.DLL (in capital letters) replaced it with the hal.dll transferred from another machine also running Windows but it still won't boot and I'm getting the same dialog box.

I have found an XP disk, shall I attempt the recovery tool in it without fear of upsetting the newly created Minime system?

That would be the proper way to go. It shouldn't do anything to the new installation, as it's on different partitions.

[Riki]

I mounted Windows, trashed HAl.DLL (in capital letters) replaced it with the hal.dll transferred from another machine also running Windows but it still won't boot and I'm getting the same dialog box.

I have found an XP disk, shall I attempt the recovery tool in it without fear of upsetting the newly created Minime system?

That would be the proper way to go. It shouldn't do anything to the new installation, as it's on different partitions.

Can't get it going. It warns me that if I am running other partitions they could get damaged and I could lose the entire drive.

[Old-Polack]

I mounted Windows, trashed HAl.DLL (in capital letters) replaced it with the hal.dll transferred from another machine also running Windows but it still won't boot and I'm getting the same dialog box.

I have found an XP disk, shall I attempt the recovery tool in it without fear of upsetting the newly created Minime system?

That would be the proper way to go. It shouldn't do anything to the new installation, as it's on different partitions.

Can't get it going. It warns me that if I am running other partitions they could get damaged and I could lose the entire drive.

Is this a recovery disk, that came with the computer, or a real XP installation disk? If a recovery disk, it installs XP as an image that covers the whole drive, just as it was when the computer was new. All installed applications, added later, would need to be reinstalled, just as if it's the first time. A regular XP installation disk will install to whatever partition it is pointed at, and should be able to be used to repair a system, using the repair function, installing only the missing parts, without a full reinstall.

[Riki]

I mounted Windows, trashed HAl.DLL (in capital letters) replaced it with the hal.dll transferred from another machine also running Windows but it still won't boot and I'm getting the same dialog box.

I have found an XP disk, shall I attempt the recovery tool in it without fear of upsetting the newly created Minime system?

That would be the proper way to go. It shouldn't do anything to the new installation, as it's on different partitions.

Can't get it going. It warns me that if I am running other partitions they could get damaged and I could lose the entire drive.

Is this a recovery disk, that came with the computer, or a real XP installation disk? If a recovery disk, it installs XP as an image that covers the whole drive, just as it was when the computer was new. All installed applications, added later, would need to be reinstalled, just as if it's the first time. A regular XP installation disk will install to whatever partition it is pointed at, and should be able to be used to repair a system, using the repair function, installing only the missing parts, without a full reinstall.

It is a regular XP installation disk but it's XP PRO and the laptop's is XP Home. Might be the cause? I have also tried the hal.dll file from a tablet pc with the same negative result.

BTW, fdisk -l is telling me that the partitions are in the "wrong disk order", extended is before XP. Could this make a difference? I wouldn't have thought so but no harm in asking.  

[Riki]

Sorry...I know you like to see results:

[riki@localhost ~]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost riki]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6f01111e

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1            2805        9729    55625062+   5  Extended
/dev/hda2   *           1        2804    22523098+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda5            2805        4372    12594928+  83  Linux
/dev/hda6            4373        4881     4088511   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda7            4882        9729    38941528+  83  Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order
[root@localhost riki]#

[Old-Polack]

Sorry...I know you like to see results:

[riki@localhost ~]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost riki]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6f01111e

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1            2805        9729    55625062+   5  Extended
/dev/hda2   *           1        2804    22523098+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda5            2805        4372    12594928+  83  Linux
/dev/hda6            4373        4881     4088511   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda7            4882        9729    38941528+  83  Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order
[root@localhost riki]#

Now would be a good time to use the fdisk f command, from the expert menu. This is what it's designed for. Use the routine as previously posted.

The commands, in order are;

m
x
m     <-- This one is not really necessary, just there so you can see the Expert menu.
f
r
p
w

[Riki]

Sorry...I know you like to see results:

[riki@localhost ~]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost riki]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6f01111e

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1            2805        9729    55625062+   5  Extended
/dev/hda2   *           1        2804    22523098+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda5            2805        4372    12594928+  83  Linux
/dev/hda6            4373        4881     4088511   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda7            4882        9729    38941528+  83  Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order
[root@localhost riki]#

Now would be a good time to use the fdisk f command, from the expert menu. This is what it's designed for. Use the routine as previously posted.

The commands, in order are;

m
x
m     <-- This one is not really necessary, just there so you can see the Expert menu.
f
r
p
w

Thanks OP!

[riki@localhost ~]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost riki]# fdisk /dev/hda

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 9729.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): m
Command action
   a   toggle a bootable flag
   b   edit bsd disklabel
   c   toggle the dos compatibility flag
   d   delete a partition
   l   list known partition types
   m   print this menu
   n   add a new partition
   o   create a new empty DOS partition table
   p   print the partition table
   q   quit without saving changes
   s   create a new empty Sun disklabel
   t   change a partition's system id
   u   change display/entry units
   v   verify the partition table
   w   write table to disk and exit
   x   extra functionality (experts only)

Command (m for help): x

Expert command (m for help): m
Command action
   b   move beginning of data in a partition
   c   change number of cylinders
   d   print the raw data in the partition table
   e   list extended partitions
   f   fix partition order
   g   create an IRIX (SGI) partition table
   h   change number of heads
   i   change the disk identifier
   m   print this menu
   p   print the partition table
   q   quit without saving changes
   r   return to main menu
   s   change number of sectors/track
   v   verify the partition table
   w   write table to disk and exit

Expert command (m for help): f
Done.

Expert command (m for help): r

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6f01111e

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1        2804    22523098+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2            2805        9729    55625062+   5  Extended
/dev/hda5            2805        4372    12594928+  83  Linux
/dev/hda6            4373        4881     4088511   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda7            4882        9729    38941528+  83  Linux

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy.
The kernel still uses the old table.
The new table will be used at the next reboot.
Syncing disks.
[root@localhost riki]#  

[Riki]

After my previous post I tried to boot XP and there is no longer any mention about hal.dll. I now get a black screen with the following:

root (hd0,1)
file system type unknown, partition type 0x5
make active
error 12 : invalid device requested
press any key to continue...

So, there has been some change...hmmm...

[Was_Just19]

After my previous post I tried to boot XP and there is no longer any mention about hal.dll. I now get a black screen with the following:

root (hd0,1)
file system type unknown, partition type 0x5
make active
error 12 : invalid device requested
press any key to continue...

So, there has been some change...hmmm...

Change it to

root (hd0,0)

and try booting.

(hd0,1) now refers to the Extended partition.

[Riki]

After my previous post I tried to boot XP and there is no longer any mention about hal.dll. I now get a black screen with the following:

root (hd0,1)
file system type unknown, partition type 0x5
make active
error 12 : invalid device requested
press any key to continue...

So, there has been some change...hmmm...

Change it to

root (hd0,0)

and try booting.

(hd0,1) now refers to the Extended partition.

Thanks JohnBoy. Good try but we are back to the "missing or corrupt" HAL.DLL which I have replaced several times to no avail. I am now finding myself with 21GB of useless space! I may have to start all over again.  

[Bald Brick]

Riki,

This might help:

How to Fix - hal.dll is missing or corrupt in windows by Britec

although I must say that Old-Polack's way of giving you step-by-step instructions is easier to follow.

(The video link gives you so much information in so short a time that most people won't be able to remember half of it.)