Vista won't boot, MBR probably needs a fix

Hi all. I searched through the forums but couldn't find something that'd
be helpful.
I'll describe the situation.

I have 4 Hard Disks, and I used to have drive C: as the XP partition.
Not long ago, I installed Vista on drive D: and it probably modified
the MBR on C: (these are completely separate disks, not just partitioned
space of one physical disk).

Several weeks ago, I decided that Vista, although it has its problems,
is satisfying enough for my simple needs, and I installed Linux on my C:
drive (of course, I reformatted it). Now, the Linux GRUB boot-loader
shows me the option of booting to the 2nd drive where Vista is located,
but when I try to boot Vista, it gives me the "hal.dll" error. Now, the
file seems to be in place, and I don't think it's damaged. I did read
that this error can be displayed when there's a problem with MBR.

When I insert my Vista CD, and boot from it, I get a message that boot
image could not be loaded and I need to use my Vista CD to boot and run
the recovery console (well Duh! stupid me...).

Any idea what can I do?
Maybe the Vista CD is corrupt, though I doubt. I used it to install
before.

Check to see if your Vista partition is an active primary partition. If it
is, change the boot priority in your BIOS to have the Vista hd as first in
boot priority. Boot to your Vista DVD and do a startup repair. hal.dll is
a ways into the boot process after it has identified the partition to boot
to, found the loader and then attempted to open its target os.

"nomaed" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Hi all. I searched through the forums but couldn't find something that'd
> be helpful.
> I'll describe the situation.
>
> I have 4 Hard Disks, and I used to have drive C: as the XP partition.
> Not long ago, I installed Vista on drive D: and it probably modified
> the MBR on C: (these are completely separate disks, not just partitioned
> space of one physical disk).
>
> Several weeks ago, I decided that Vista, although it has its problems,
> is satisfying enough for my simple needs, and I installed Linux on my C:
> drive (of course, I reformatted it). Now, the Linux GRUB boot-loader
> shows me the option of booting to the 2nd drive where Vista is located,
> but when I try to boot Vista, it gives me the "hal.dll" error. Now, the
> file seems to be in place, and I don't think it's damaged. I did read
> that this error can be displayed when there's a problem with MBR.
>
> When I insert my Vista CD, and boot from it, I get a message that boot
> image could not be loaded and I need to use my Vista CD to boot and run
> the recovery console (well Duh! stupid me...).
>
> Any idea what can I do?
> Maybe the Vista CD is corrupt, though I doubt. I used it to install
> before.
>
>

Thanks, I'll try that.

Generally speaking, if I understood you correctly, the DVD is giving
this error because it expects to find the MBR on the first drive, and
when that drive has some other OS with a completely different boot
system, it just doesn't know what to do and becomes stupid?

John Barnes;570974 Wrote:
> Check to see if your Vista partition is an active primary partition. If
> it
> is, change the boot priority in your BIOS to have the Vista hd as first
> in
> boot priority. Boot to your Vista DVD and do a startup repair.
> hal.dll is
> a ways into the boot process after it has identified the partition to
> boot
> to, found the loader and then attempted to open its target os.
>
> "nomaed" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> >
> > Hi all. I searched through the forums but couldn't find something
> that'd
> > be helpful.
> > I'll describe the situation.
> >
> > I have 4 Hard Disks, and I used to have drive C: as the XP
> partition.
> > Not long ago, I installed Vista on drive D: and it probably modified
> > the MBR on C: (these are completely separate disks, not just
> partitioned
> > space of one physical disk).
> >
> > Several weeks ago, I decided that Vista, although it has its
> problems,
> > is satisfying enough for my simple needs, and I installed Linux on my
> C:
> > drive (of course, I reformatted it). Now, the Linux GRUB boot-loader
> > shows me the option of booting to the 2nd drive where Vista is
> located,
> > but when I try to boot Vista, it gives me the "hal.dll" error. Now,
> the
> > file seems to be in place, and I don't think it's damaged. I did
> read
> > that this error can be displayed when there's a problem with MBR.
> >
> > When I insert my Vista CD, and boot from it, I get a message that
> boot
> > image could not be loaded and I need to use my Vista CD to boot and
> run
> > the recovery console (well Duh! stupid me...).
> >
> > Any idea what can I do?
> > Maybe the Vista CD is corrupt, though I doubt. I used it to install
> > before.
> >
> >

You can try these first and use the other as a backup
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;927392

"nomaed" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Thanks, I'll try that.
>
> Generally speaking, if I understood you correctly, the DVD is giving
> this error because it expects to find the MBR on the first drive, and
> when that drive has some other OS with a completely different boot
> system, it just doesn't know what to do and becomes stupid?
>
> John Barnes;570974 Wrote:
>> Check to see if your Vista partition is an active primary partition. If
>> it
>> is, change the boot priority in your BIOS to have the Vista hd as first
>> in
>> boot priority. Boot to your Vista DVD and do a startup repair.
>> hal.dll is
>> a ways into the boot process after it has identified the partition to
>> boot
>> to, found the loader and then attempted to open its target os.
>>
>> "nomaed" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>> >
>> > Hi all. I searched through the forums but couldn't find something
>> that'd
>> > be helpful.
>> > I'll describe the situation.
>> >
>> > I have 4 Hard Disks, and I used to have drive C: as the XP
>> partition.
>> > Not long ago, I installed Vista on drive D: and it probably modified
>> > the MBR on C: (these are completely separate disks, not just
>> partitioned
>> > space of one physical disk).
>> >
>> > Several weeks ago, I decided that Vista, although it has its
>> problems,
>> > is satisfying enough for my simple needs, and I installed Linux on my
>> C:
>> > drive (of course, I reformatted it). Now, the Linux GRUB boot-loader
>> > shows me the option of booting to the 2nd drive where Vista is
>> located,
>> > but when I try to boot Vista, it gives me the "hal.dll" error. Now,
>> the
>> > file seems to be in place, and I don't think it's damaged. I did
>> read
>> > that this error can be displayed when there's a problem with MBR.
>> >
>> > When I insert my Vista CD, and boot from it, I get a message that
>> boot
>> > image could not be loaded and I need to use my Vista CD to boot and
>> run
>> > the recovery console (well Duh! stupid me...).
>> >
>> > Any idea what can I do?
>> > Maybe the Vista CD is corrupt, though I doubt. I used it to install
>> > before.
>> >
>> >
>
>

nomaed wrote:

>
> Thanks, I'll try that.
>
> Generally speaking, if I understood you correctly, the DVD is giving
> this error because it expects to find the MBR on the first drive, and
> when that drive has some other OS with a completely different boot
> system, it just doesn't know what to do and becomes stupid?
>
Vista doesn't "become" stupid, Vista *is* stupid.

Cheers.

> John Barnes;570974 Wrote:
>> Check to see if your Vista partition is an active primary partition. If
>> it
>> is, change the boot priority in your BIOS to have the Vista hd as first
>> in
>> boot priority. Boot to your Vista DVD and do a startup repair.
>> hal.dll is
>> a ways into the boot process after it has identified the partition to
>> boot
>> to, found the loader and then attempted to open its target os.
>>
>> "nomaed" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>> >
>> > Hi all. I searched through the forums but couldn't find something
>> that'd
>> > be helpful.
>> > I'll describe the situation.
>> >
>> > I have 4 Hard Disks, and I used to have drive C: as the XP
>> partition.
>> > Not long ago, I installed Vista on drive D: and it probably modified
>> > the MBR on C: (these are completely separate disks, not just
>> partitioned
>> > space of one physical disk).
>> >
>> > Several weeks ago, I decided that Vista, although it has its
>> problems,
>> > is satisfying enough for my simple needs, and I installed Linux on my
>> C:
>> > drive (of course, I reformatted it). Now, the Linux GRUB boot-loader
>> > shows me the option of booting to the 2nd drive where Vista is
>> located,
>> > but when I try to boot Vista, it gives me the "hal.dll" error. Now,
>> the
>> > file seems to be in place, and I don't think it's damaged. I did
>> read
>> > that this error can be displayed when there's a problem with MBR.
>> >
>> > When I insert my Vista CD, and boot from it, I get a message that
>> boot
>> > image could not be loaded and I need to use my Vista CD to boot and
>> run
>> > the recovery console (well Duh! stupid me...).
>> >
>> > Any idea what can I do?
>> > Maybe the Vista CD is corrupt, though I doubt. I used it to install
>> > before.
>> >
>> >

--
What does Bill Gates use?
http://tinyurl.com/2zxhdl

Proprietary Software: a 20th Century software business model.

Be Afraid ... Be Very Afraid ... of Francis' RELATIVES!

Frank, hard at work on his Vista computer all day:
http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/war...tm/compost.htm

NoStop wrote:

>
> Vista doesn't "become" stupid, Vista *is* stupid.
>
> Cheers.

You're stupid!
Frank

On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:09:32 -0700, Frank <> wrote, by way of
<eOxt$>, in
microsoft.public.windows.vista.general -->

>NoStop wrote:
>
>>
>> Vista doesn't "become" stupid, Vista *is* stupid.
>>
>> Cheers.
>
>You're stupid!
>Frank

So sayeth the hysterical person possessed of a thwarted sense of
control?

--

'Tis far better to have snipped too much than to never
have snipped at all. -- (author unknown)