Hey everyone - first off, this will probably be a long post and read, but I'd GREATLY appreciate it out there if someone could help me. And I'm offering a $5 paypal sent reward for anyone who can help me retrieve my files (lol I know it's not a lot, but I'm only in high school) - Ok, here's a description of my problem.
For Xmas, I got a new WD 120 GB hard drive. I installed it and everything went well, so I thought I'd just do a complete system format (of the old hard drive too) so I'd have the best possible setup. So I transferred all of my files I wanted to save to my brother's computer (23.1 GB's worth). The reinstall went fine and the computer works great. However, whenever I went to turn on my brother's computer and transfer my files back over via the network, I got this error message.
"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.
<Windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe.
Please re-install a copy of the above file."
That's the exact error message that I recieve on his computer when trying to start it up - his pc is running Windows XP on the NTFS file system. I've already tried to boot in safe mode but it doesn't seem to make any difference.
Also, for some reason, the error message has changed to this instead.
""Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file."
Now, here's what I've tried to do to fix the PC or just to get my files (that's really the only thing I'm worried about now because I can always do a system format to fix Windows).
I tried to boot the pc from the Windows CD and enter the command prompt and do the command "chkdsk /r" however the hard drive locks up once it hits 25%.
I've also tried putting the hard drive in a different computer as the slave drive. However, the computer won't boot with that hard drive in the computer. It loads past the Window loading screen, but right before displaying the actual desktop, I hear the bad hard drive starting to make a repeated weird noise (kind of a grinding noise). Is this a sign of a failing hard drive?
I've also tried to do a repair of the windows installation however that doesn't work as it doesn't seem to detect an existing windows installation.
To get my files off, I've also tried sticking in a FAT32 drive and using this utility from bootdisk.com to transfer over my files. http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm However it seems to have an error anytime I try to transfer files which leads me to believe that the hard drive is failing however it can display a list of all the files on the hard drive - just can't transfer them for some reason to another drive...
I've also tried doing a system restore through the command prompt - however, it gives me some file cannot be found or w/e when I enter the command to do it.
ok so that's about it - I WOULD BE VERY VERY GRATEFUL IF ANYONE CAN FIND ME A WAY TO EITHER GET WINDOWS TO BOOT SO I CAN TRANSFER MY FILES TO MY OTHER PC, OR JUST A WAY THAT I COULD GET MY FILES OFF THE PC. I'm offering a $5 dollar reward for anyone that can help! Thank you very much in advance for your help!!
For Xmas, I got a new WD 120 GB hard drive. I installed it and everything went well, so I thought I'd just do a complete system format (of the old hard drive too) so I'd have the best possible setup. So I transferred all of my files I wanted to save to my brother's computer (23.1 GB's worth). The reinstall went fine and the computer works great. However, whenever I went to turn on my brother's computer and transfer my files back over via the network, I got this error message.
"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.
<Windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe.
Please re-install a copy of the above file."
That's the exact error message that I recieve on his computer when trying to start it up - his pc is running Windows XP on the NTFS file system. I've already tried to boot in safe mode but it doesn't seem to make any difference.
Also, for some reason, the error message has changed to this instead.
""Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file."
Now, here's what I've tried to do to fix the PC or just to get my files (that's really the only thing I'm worried about now because I can always do a system format to fix Windows).
I tried to boot the pc from the Windows CD and enter the command prompt and do the command "chkdsk /r" however the hard drive locks up once it hits 25%.
I've also tried putting the hard drive in a different computer as the slave drive. However, the computer won't boot with that hard drive in the computer. It loads past the Window loading screen, but right before displaying the actual desktop, I hear the bad hard drive starting to make a repeated weird noise (kind of a grinding noise). Is this a sign of a failing hard drive?
I've also tried to do a repair of the windows installation however that doesn't work as it doesn't seem to detect an existing windows installation.
To get my files off, I've also tried sticking in a FAT32 drive and using this utility from bootdisk.com to transfer over my files. http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm However it seems to have an error anytime I try to transfer files which leads me to believe that the hard drive is failing however it can display a list of all the files on the hard drive - just can't transfer them for some reason to another drive...
I've also tried doing a system restore through the command prompt - however, it gives me some file cannot be found or w/e when I enter the command to do it.
ok so that's about it - I WOULD BE VERY VERY GRATEFUL IF ANYONE CAN FIND ME A WAY TO EITHER GET WINDOWS TO BOOT SO I CAN TRANSFER MY FILES TO MY OTHER PC, OR JUST A WAY THAT I COULD GET MY FILES OFF THE PC. I'm offering a $5 dollar reward for anyone that can help! Thank you very much in advance for your help!!