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General discussion

PC was infected cant use the recovery CD

Dec 4, 2012 1:43AM PST

Ive already posted the original problem i had-
"'System Fix' VIRUS infected my HP desktop"
Long story short-
I cant even open my Windows now
"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"
-is what i get.
I cant even run my RECOVERY CD to reformat.
I get the above mentioned statement on the PC screen.
If this is fixable here at home,,could someone please explain it to me "as if i were 6 years old" so I cant get this fixed?
(Grif has been a big help for me here,,so i hope to hear from him soon as well) </windows>

Discussion is locked

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correction
Dec 4, 2012 1:46AM PST

If this is fixable here at home,,
could someone please explain it to me "as if i were 6 years old" so I CAN get this fixed?

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Few 6 year olds can fix this one.
Dec 4, 2012 1:50AM PST

If this was a 6 year old, then they ask others to do the fixing. That is a shop counter.

There is something worth explaining about old gear. For example as the CD drive gets old it may not be able to boot the recovery media. This means that your 6 year old would also have to find a shop to swap in a new drive.

Could be many reasons for this failure but no 6 year old I know could follow the directions to fix this.
Bob

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Have You Tried BOOTING From The Recovery Disc?
Dec 4, 2012 4:19AM PST

If the computer was badly infected, it may be necessary to boot from the Recovery disc . Place the disc in your DVD/CD drive, then turn off the computer, then turn it back on again.. As long as the BIOS settings are default, then the computer should boot from the Recovery disc, which should then give you the options to format the hard drive and reinstall everything back to it's factory condition.

If you can't boot from the Recovery disc, then either the DVD/CD drive is bad, or the BIOS boot-order settings need to be changed so the machine will boot from the CD first.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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I have tried doing that
Dec 4, 2012 11:24AM PST

Now there very well may be a problem with the 'DVD-ROM' drive but I could also use the 'CD-WRITER' driver couldn't I?
At any rate ,Ive tried rebooting/restarting in both drives,,and in both cases all i get is the-

"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"

Grif you said that the BIOS boot-order settings may need to be changed so the machine will boot from the CD first. This is where id need it explained to me as if i were '6 years old'
(maybe 10 years old ,right Bob?)
How would I change the boot settings at this point?

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If that error message is still popping up
Dec 4, 2012 8:55PM PST

Then when the PC is trying to boot, the first screen that shows should be the blue HP Invent logo. On that screen and along the bottom, there will be an indication of what key to press to enter the "setup menu" or "boot order" or "Enter the BIOS". Depending on just how old the HP is, the keys will vary but typically F1, F3, or F10. Some of the older ones may use "Esc" Once in, change the boot order to CD/DVD drive as first try for boot.

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Yep, That Error Indicates It's Not Booting From the CD
Dec 5, 2012 3:19AM PST

So, either you're forgetting to "Press any Key" when it asks at boot up of the CD, or you haven't followed the boot-order setup per "lacsr" instructions above.

Please do so.

Hope this helps.

Grif