Forum - DLL-files.com

In a reply to a recent inquiry about fixing an OS you told him to "figure
out how to make a boot.ini".

My PC BSDed and would not boot, at first no F10 recovery working. I finally
got it into recovery which isn't working either. But "last good config" says
it needed hal.dll, so I went to the HP fix page, performed the dll fix then
followed with getting a boot.ini working according to their process. It all
went well in building the boot.ini, then it said it needed editing. So I
went most of the way through "Editing the boot.ini" (this was all through
the DOS I got to through the Advanced tab in the HP Recovery Disks set)
until I got to step 8 when the command HP provided was a wrong parameter
format.

I got HP on chat about this and got nowhere. The recovery disks that worked
in the past now hang at 2% of the second disk.
I feel like if I got the boot.ini edited and continued on with that process
it would solve everything but had to abort due to lack of that command.

Do you have any suggestions for me about how to edit the boot.ini with DOS
once it is created, or any other way to "figure out how to make a boot.ini"?
It would probably have to be in DOS and fit into the HP process I started
because I wouldn't have any other way to insert it into the recovery
process.

Thanks,

frog

frogliver wrote:
> In a reply to a recent inquiry about fixing an OS you told him to
> "figure out how to make a boot.ini".
>
> My PC BSDed and would not boot, at first no F10 recovery working. I
> finally got it into recovery which isn't working either. But "last
> good config" says it needed hal.dll, so I went to the HP fix page,
> performed the dll fix then followed with getting a boot.ini working
> according to their process. It all went well in building the
> boot.ini, then it said it needed editing. So I went most of the way
> through "Editing the boot.ini" (this was all through the DOS I got to
> through the Advanced tab in the HP Recovery Disks set) until I got to
> step 8 when the command HP provided was a wrong parameter format.
>
> I got HP on chat about this and got nowhere. The recovery disks that
> worked in the past now hang at 2% of the second disk.
> I feel like if I got the boot.ini edited and continued on with that
> process it would solve everything but had to abort due to lack of
> that command.
> Do you have any suggestions for me about how to edit the boot.ini
> with DOS once it is created, or any other way to "figure out how to
> make a boot.ini"? It would probably have to be in DOS and fit into
> the HP process I started because I wouldn't have any other way to
> insert it into the recovery process.

Boot.ini is just a simple text file. It is only needed if you are
multi-booting; i.e., if you have more than one OS install (they can be the
same OS but in different places). Its purpose is to present you with a menu
from which you can choose which OS to boot.

I used to have it because I had XP on one drive, Win98 on another. I have
one now because I have two XP installs (on different drives) and a Recovery
Console on one of the drives. Mine looks like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=6
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="XP Main - Bitsy"
/noexecute=optin /fastdetect /noexecute=optout
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(4)\WINDOWS2="XP2 Basic" /noexecute=optin
/fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="XP Recovery Console" /cmdcons

The "timeout" line specifies the number of seconds to present the menu
before the default choice is booted.

The "default" line specifies which OS install is default.

The next three lines specify the locations of the things that can be booted.

If you only have one OS installed a boot.ini will do you no good, look
elsewhere for a solution to your problem. Since - apparently - you aren't
multi-booting I would guess that your problem with the HP recovery discs is
hardware related....maybe the power supply, maybe RAM, maybe even a failing
hard drive. If it were me, I'd haul the box off to a repairman that has the
equipment and knowledge to test components.

BTW, it is "dadiOH", not "daddyOH".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOOT.INI#boot.ini
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314081

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

Sorry about the spelling. The only reason I even thought about boot.in was
because since my config said it needed hal.dll, when I went to the HP page
to try to fix it, the instructions said that fixing the boot.ini was part of
the process of fixing the hal.dll -- what it did was go in and get a copy of
the boot.ini, but it then said it needed editing. It seemed pretty smooth
until it rejected HP's published command.

I'm positive that it is not hardware because I know how the initial boot
problem started i.e., partly because I updated several MS updates at once
then did some other stuff before restarting. I read that some of the MS
updates were causing BSD bootup problems even when installed properly, and I
had a dumb rash of late-at-night impulse and overlooked that.

All I am trying to do is try a non-destructive recovery before resorting to
destructive. I am trying anything with nothing to lose.


"dadiOH" <dadiOH@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:uRF2LMqyKHA.5132@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> frogliver wrote:
>> In a reply to a recent inquiry about fixing an OS you told him to
>> "figure out how to make a boot.ini".
>>
>> My PC BSDed and would not boot, at first no F10 recovery working. I
>> finally got it into recovery which isn't working either. But "last
>> good config" says it needed hal.dll, so I went to the HP fix page,
>> performed the dll fix then followed with getting a boot.ini working
>> according to their process. It all went well in building the
>> boot.ini, then it said it needed editing. So I went most of the way
>> through "Editing the boot.ini" (this was all through the DOS I got to
>> through the Advanced tab in the HP Recovery Disks set) until I got to
>> step 8 when the command HP provided was a wrong parameter format.
>>
>> I got HP on chat about this and got nowhere. The recovery disks that
>> worked in the past now hang at 2% of the second disk.
>> I feel like if I got the boot.ini edited and continued on with that
>> process it would solve everything but had to abort due to lack of
>> that command.
>> Do you have any suggestions for me about how to edit the boot.ini
>> with DOS once it is created, or any other way to "figure out how to
>> make a boot.ini"? It would probably have to be in DOS and fit into
>> the HP process I started because I wouldn't have any other way to
>> insert it into the recovery process.
>
> Boot.ini is just a simple text file. It is only needed if you are
> multi-booting; i.e., if you have more than one OS install (they can be the
> same OS but in different places). Its purpose is to present you with a
> menu from which you can choose which OS to boot.
>
> I used to have it because I had XP on one drive, Win98 on another. I have
> one now because I have two XP installs (on different drives) and a
> Recovery Console on one of the drives. Mine looks like this:
>
> [boot loader]
> timeout=6
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS
> [operating systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="XP Main - Bitsy"
> /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /noexecute=optout
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(4)\WINDOWS2="XP2 Basic" /noexecute=optin
> /fastdetect
> C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="XP Recovery Console" /cmdcons
>
> The "timeout" line specifies the number of seconds to present the menu
> before the default choice is booted.
>
> The "default" line specifies which OS install is default.
>
> The next three lines specify the locations of the things that can be
> booted.
>
> If you only have one OS installed a boot.ini will do you no good, look
> elsewhere for a solution to your problem. Since - apparently - you aren't
> multi-booting I would guess that your problem with the HP recovery discs
> is hardware related....maybe the power supply, maybe RAM, maybe even a
> failing hard drive. If it were me, I'd haul the box off to a repairman
> that has the equipment and knowledge to test components.
>
> BTW, it is "dadiOH", not "daddyOH".
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOOT.INI#boot.ini
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314081
>
> --
>
> dadiOH
> ____________________________
>
> dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
> ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
> LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
> Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
>
>
>

On Mar 23, 12:56

The best advice for the missing hal.dll problem is simple advice:

boot into the XP Recovery Console
delete/rename the afflicted/suspicious boot.ini
reboot normal XP
repair/recreate the afflicted/suspicious boot.ini

You can create a bootable XP Recovery Console CD when no XP media is
available:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic276527.html

Thanks Jose. I will follow your advice as far as I can. So far I have
created the XP Recovery Console CD from the website, burned it and it booted
my PC. I have two problems getting it going:

It asks which drive I want to log onto F:\MiniNT, F:\windows, or C:\windows.
I don't know if i am supposed to login to F:\ the recovery console, or C:\
the hdd.

Next, it asks for an administrator password -- I have no clue, don't even
remember ever using one.

What to do?

Thanks,

frog