Hardware or software problem?

[canooten]

Hardware has my vote, but I wanted to get some opinions.

A friends tried to boot his computer this morning and got a black screen message before Windows booted saying that his primary HD was operating outside of normal parameters. It didn't give any specifics, but gave a choice of F1 to continue booting or F2 to enter setup.

He said yesterday that F1 got him into Windows, but today that brings up another screen saying that the "system32/hal.dll" file is missing or corrupt.
He also said he's had several unexplained lockups over the last little while (I reloaded windows on this computer about a month ago).

From the reading I've done is sounds like his HD is on the way out, but with this .dll problem, I wondered if there's anything else that could be attempted before replacing the HD and losing all the info on the system.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

I always got that same message if system restore was turned on both my hard drives, but I took my primary hard drive out.

I am sorry to say, but I think he lost EVERYTHING on his drive.

 

[canooten]

That's what I'm thinking. I may try to get into the drive with Knoppix, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[kboy]

Yeah I just read on another web site with that error to immediately backup all data and replace the Hard Drive. A little late, Sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[canooten]

It wasn't a total loss. I replaced the drive and hooked the old one up as secondary and was able to copy pretty much everything off the old one in small sections. Trying to access it for longer than about 30 seconds usually caused it to lock up, but short bursts seemed to work OK.

 

[kboy]

I've heard an old trick where ya put the HD in the freezer for 30 minutes first & then remove the data. I 've never tried it myself though & at least you're getting it done.