Win XP - Black Screen / Missing DLL. ???

HP Pavillion a824n
Win XP Home SP2
1 gig RAM

2 days ago when I went to go on after my wife, the screen went to black. Turned it off and tried to restart it. The POST screen came up and then it got to the log in screen and then black. Tried a few times and mostly black. I hear the HD working like normal.

Tried to boot in safe mode and this came up.
Windows could not start because of an error in the software. Please report this problem as : load needed DLLs for kernel.

Mult(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
Mult(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll
Mult(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\KDCOM.DLL

Before that it hung at the MUPS then that afterward.

Have a HP recovery disc , put it in and it stayed on. Didn't proceed with anything. Ejected it and hit the F8 and got into the recovery console and ran the chkdsk /r on C:windows. Got to about 68% maybe less after about an hour and then black screen again.


No new hardware or software at all has been installed recently.

I am one of the dumb ones who didn't back anything up. So any help would be greatly appreciated in trying to help me recover.

 

Can't say what the problem is I'm afraid. Maybe it is just a Windows fault that could be repaired, but then again it might be a hard drive fault and any attempts at repair could trash your files. Chkdsk is particularly dangerous in such circumstances and could make your files unrecoverable. Your safest move would be to connect the drive as a slave in another machine and see if you can pull your files off. If you're lucky and it is just a Windows fault then that should be easy to do. If it's more then you might need file recovery software. After your files are safe then you can attempt repairs or even reinstall if necessary. Be aware that your HP recovery disk might restore Windows by doing a full reinstall to factory state, which will wipe your personal data.

 

Hi darkon,
Since you're a 'beginner' suspect you may be concerned by McTavish's absolutely correct advice, so don't hesitate to ask him for step by step advice if you don't have access to a local expert. The steps he's outlined are easily done.

 

I do not have another computer at home to try that with. If I get a new computer can I connect it to a Vista OS since I have XP on it?

I am afraid to run the recovery console or system recovery as not to delete or destroy any of my files. It is a family computer and too much personal in invaluable to lose.

I am hoping I can get past a black screen.

 

Not nexessary to purchase another computer; another hard disk would be adaquate. Would just remove current disk and put XP on the new disk and then proceed to get files from the old disk as slave.

 

What if I can get to recovery console?
Can I just run the chkdsk /r ? Will that really ***** anything up?

I am praying for something simple.

 

Yes Darkon, chkdsk really can sc**w you over. See this thread from just last week http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=68322 His situation is different from yours and my suggestion to rerun chkdsk was only after he got the other partitions recognised properly. He was having no problems with his Windows install and chkdsk had already trashed his drive, so not much to loose.

Your error had me think that it could be a hardware fault that caused file corruption, but I just don't know and so I would personally not risk anything. If you can, check the cable to the drive is plugged in securely at both ends and to the CD drive - if it does also go to this drive. Try a new cable, try it with the CD drive unplugged.

The other thing you could do would be to make a bootable Windows CD that will let you look at the drive and burn your data to CD, or maybe even copy it to a USB device. Do you have access to a machine where you can burn a CD? If so then make yourself this disk http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm It's not as complex or as difficult as it first looks, just take your time and follow the instructions.

It will boot you into a full Windows desktop where you can view and copy files just as if you were really in XP. If your files are visible and healthy then good. If not then download the hard drive makers diagnostic utility and run that to check the drive and possibly repair minor drive errors. Then try again with the boot CD.

Perhaps someone else might come along that recognises the errors you reported and can say better what has happened to your system. The only attempts at repair I can recommend just now would be the drive makers utility. Do you know the make of the hard drive?

http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT
http://support.wdc.com
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/utilities/Support_Shdiag.html
http://www.ibm.com/support/us/en
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

 

Ended up doing the HP System Recovery. Lost most everything , but a lot was still there such as programs I installed. Lost all my files as they were in My Documents.

I am using recovery software to move anything I can recover to an external HD. Windows is just like when i first got it.

My new question now is I have recovered a lot of files of registry points (registry_user) and such. Is it possible to put them back in.

I am not a computer genius ( or else I wouldn't have gotten to this point anyway).