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Topic: Improper Shutdown Problems |
James Quackenbush
From:
Pomona, New York, USA
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Posted 16 Sep 2005 7:17 am |
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I am a Mac user from way back, but recently had a PC built for me to run a program that is PC only.....My Mac has a UPS , but sadly I did not have one on my PC .... If my Mac was shut down improperly , the next time I start it , there would be a disc first aid that would run, and fix any problems, and it would boot up again business as usual
....WEEEEELLL, this did NOT happen to my PC when I had a power outage ....I can no longer use my PC as there must have been some files screwed up when the PC shut down with the power outage...I'm not really that familiar with PC , but have read enough to know that I will be buying a UPS for my PC very soon !!.....If anybody is knowlegeable on PC repairs that could walk me though , or tell me what's going on with my computer , please email me offline , and give me your phone number , and I will call you at your convienience..I really need to get this computer working again .....Thanks to all for their time, and consideration ....Sincerely, Jim |
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Chuck Hall
From:
Warner Robins, Ga, USA
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Posted 16 Sep 2005 7:27 am
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James
Which operating system are you using on the PC?
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EMCI D10 8/4 and Nashville 400
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 16 Sep 2005 7:47 am
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If it's Windows XP you have a couple of options. If it's just the OS that got clobbered, you can run Windows XP "Repair" (that is similar to installing XP except it will examine your OS files and if any are missing or corrupted it will replace them).
IF it's the hard drive that was clobbered, there are things that can be done, but unfortunately you cannont use a DOS program as the hard drive is most likely formatted to the NTFS format, not a FAT32 (DOS) format.
Whether a Windows system has a fault, such as you experienced, is a 50/50 chance, just depends on what it was doing at the time of the power failure. However, Murphy's Law always takes precedence.
Yes,a UPS is really needed. I won't run one of mine without one, anymore. |
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James Quackenbush
From:
Pomona, New York, USA
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Posted 16 Sep 2005 5:25 pm
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Thanks guys......I am running Windows XP SP1a ......If by "repair" means I have to boot the computer from the disc, I have tried that ......I continue to get this ....
file\i386\halaacpi.dll could not be loaded
the error code is 4 setup cannot continue press any key to exit
That's it !!.....I end up having to exit , and the computer continues to boot up normally EXCEPT I can't use anything once it's booted up ....A bunch of files are missing ....I can't do a search as it does not come up.....I can't load any programs as it says that I have no drivers loaded for the programs....It's a mess !!.... At one time SOMEHOW it started properly, and I though that it cleared itself, but that was just wishfull thinking......I really don't know what to do at this point ....I JUST got this machine running good , and this happened ......I can't even go into "system restore" as it wont come up when I select it !!........Any idea's ? .....Thanks so much to all .....Sincerely, Jim
BTW....The computer was already booted up and was sitting idle ......I did not even load any programs yet .....Then the power went out , and the rest is history ....[This message was edited by James Quackenbush on 16 September 2005 at 06:27 PM.] |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 17 Sep 2005 2:18 am
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From what I can find doing a google search for halaacpi.dll could not be loaded
It looks like you will have to reformat the hard drive and reload everything. Apparently the boot sector is clobbered on the hard drive.
Not knowing what PC you have, I can't say the exact sequence but you need to boot from the Windows XP CD, it should give you an option to reformat the hard drive and then reinstall Windows. You will also have to install everything else. Depending on the brand you will have a (motherboard) chipset driver install and that should be the 2nd step, then any device drivers such as audio, video,etc and finally any applications.
Some PC vendors automate this with a "recovery CD(s)", others give you all the CD's and you have to work through all the CD's to restore everything.
As far as the PC sitting "idle", it's still running internal modules and periodically will access/write to the hard drive. With a power outage, anything is possible. |
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Chuck Hall
From:
Warner Robins, Ga, USA
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Posted 17 Sep 2005 3:25 am
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What Jack said. And if you are ok with going into the bios setup, you can change your boot up options and make the CD the first the computer will try to boot to. With your XP disk in the CD drive the computer should take it from there. If not it can get kind of sticky from there like:
boot to command prompt and try a utility disk or depending on the mfg of you hard drive a utility to reformat the drive. This is a lot quicker said than typed and a whole lot easier.
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EMCI D10 8/4 and Nashville 400
[This message was edited by Chuck Hall on 17 September 2005 at 04:26 AM.] |
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James Quackenbush
From:
Pomona, New York, USA
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Posted 17 Sep 2005 7:41 am
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Thanks guys,
I was affraid of this !!.....I have some product licenseing files on my hard drive that I may not be able to use again but I'm not really sure yet .....Can I still use my Windows CD to put Windows back on another drive, or will I have to buy another copy of Windows also ? ... This really suck's !!..... These are the kind of things that has kept me from PC's and staying wtih Mac's all these years.....Bummer !...thanks again ....Sincerely, Jim |
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Chuck Hall
From:
Warner Robins, Ga, USA
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Posted 17 Sep 2005 8:20 am
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You can use the one you have. Your key number is probably on a sticker on one side or the other of your computer.
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EMCI D10 8/4 and Nashville 400
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Jon Moen
From:
Canada
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erik
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Posted 17 Sep 2005 2:56 pm
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Why can't he use a utility repair program like PC Rescue, or Norton, etc. They repair registry files. Repaired all of mine. Had 240 registry file errors. Have none now.
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-johnson
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James Quackenbush
From:
Pomona, New York, USA
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Posted 17 Sep 2005 4:22 pm
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I'm not sure which programs to use to fix this problem, so I stayed away from that especially since I heard that some of the programs can get carried away, and overdo the fixing process.....
Jon,
I'm sure that the file is somewhere on the Window's CD that I have ....It's not that old at all....NOW, the problem is this ....Where does this file\i386\halaacpi.dll belong ? |
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Jon Moen
From:
Canada
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Posted 17 Sep 2005 5:14 pm
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These are the files on my computer. I have XP Service Pack 2. I did not include 2 others that specifically reference SP2. I suspect this one:
C:\WINDOWS\SERVICEPACKFILES\I386 8/3/2004
is for SP2 as well but you could check that from the command prompt.
C:\I386\DRIVER.CAB 8/17/2001
C:\I386\SP1.CAB 8/29/2002
C:\WINDOWS\I386\DRIVER.CAB 8/17/2001
C:\WINDOWS\I386\SP1.CAB 8/29/2002
C:\WINDOWS\SERVICEPACKFILES\I386 8/3/2004
C:\WINDOWS\DRIVER CACHE\I386\DRIVER.CAB 8/17/2001
C:\WINDOWS\DRIVER CACHE\I386\SP1.CAB 8/29/2002[This message was edited by Jon Moen on 17 September 2005 at 06:18 PM.] |
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James Quackenbush
From:
Pomona, New York, USA
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Posted 18 Sep 2005 6:32 am
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Jon,
FIrst let me thank you for your help ...This is what I found....If I boot up normally, and I can see that I am not going to be able to use any of my programs, I leave the computer running .....It goes into "sleep" mode or something ( the screen saver takes over ) .....I go to my mouse and move it , and the screen comes up, and lo and behold the files and drivers loaded while I left the computer just sit there !!
This THRILLED me to say the least ...Everything is loaded so I can work, and when I'm done, I can also shut down properly ....SOOOOOO once the computer is booted up, and sit's for about 20 minutes or so , everything is finally loaded...I then did a search for the halaacpi.dll file on my C: drive .....2 files came up ....The most recent one was 8/29/2002 ....This is what I did .....I extracted this file to a floppy disk since the computer will read ALL the drives looking for files when booting up ....That was my thinking anyway ....It turned out to be RIGHT ON THE MONEY !!!.......Now when I boot up , the computer does it's search for the items needed to boot properly, and the light on the floppy drive lights up in the process, so the computer is accessing this file that I have on the floppy, and WALLA !!.....My computer boots !!!....NOW I have to figure out where I need to put this file from the floppy and copy it to the proper place on the C: drive ..... I'm not sure where that should go...I DO know that the file is on the C: drive , but it's not loading up during the boot ..I know that it will load EVENTUALLY if I don't have the floppy in , and I just leave the computer alone for about 20 minutes when booting , but I don't want to wait .....So for now I will leave the floppy with the file in the drive, and let that help me boot up .....Any idea's as to where I should be putting this mysterious halaacpi.dll file ? ......Right now when the computer boot's , and I do a search on the C: drive I find the file in
C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386 so I know the driver IS IN FACT loading, it's now a matter of WHEN it loads.....Any idea's please send them along.....Thanks again for the help......It really did help me get this computer up and running again..Sincerely, Jim |
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Jon Moen
From:
Canada
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Posted 18 Sep 2005 8:14 am
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| James, Perhaps the file is ok but the registry is a little screwed up. I have used this as well: System restore. It has a series of saved settings from past sessions. You choose one of them and boot. Nothing is harmed by this and you can change it as many times as you want. See System restore in Windows Help. Choose Run System Retore from the choices there. |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 18 Sep 2005 8:51 am
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James;
Try copying that file to your %system\System32\ folder. If your boot directory is named Windows, then copy it to C:\Windows\System32\. If it is named Winnt, copy to C:\Winnt\System32\.
This file was specifiaclly generated during your original system setup to configure your power features for your specific hardware. Most systems just have a file called hal.dll to deal with these config issues, but you seem to have this auxillary file as well.
Let us know if this helps.
Wiz |
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James Quackenbush
From:
Pomona, New York, USA
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Posted 20 Sep 2005 5:06 am
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Wiz,
How do I find out what my "boot dirctory's" name is ?.....I'm not sure how to do this...
I thought that my floppy trick would work, and sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't .....Either way, I have to fix this computer to work ALL the time without the floppy .... Thanks to all of you for your insight ...I will post a registry fixer question on a seperate thread.....Thanks to all.....Sincerely, Jim |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 20 Sep 2005 1:36 pm
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James;
You Boot Directory is the going to be named either "Windows" or "Winnt," depending on the builder and OS. You can see which you have by opening "My Computer" and double-clicking on the icon for your C Drive. The folders are listed before files, and one of the last ones will be named "Windows" or "WINNT." Double-click that folder to reveal it's sub-folders. One of the is named system32.
Double-click on the System32 folder to open it in a window. Locate you new file that you need to move to the system32 directory and drag it from where it is now into the system32 folder window and drop it there.
Reboot your PC (Personal Confuser) and see if that fixes the problems you are experiencing.
Wiz |
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prompt (hit F8 while booting) then using the dos copy command you can copy the file to the proper spot:
