Thinkpads Forum

I'm pretty sure my boot.ini file is messed up after repeated attempts to correct the HAL.DLL error (I believed now corrected) and MiniNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM File Missing/Corrupt error.

I'd appreciate someone posting the "standard" boot.ini file as it appears in a new TPad. I'd like to use it to compare/"start over".

Thanks much.

Dunno if your on XP or 7... but for XP, boot from the XP CD into the recovery console... login and at the command prompt, type:

bootcfg /rebuild

you can type "bootcfg /list" before/after if you like to list the entries windows sees in the boot.ini

And you did already replace the NTDETECT.COM and NTLDR right?

I can't get to the recovery module after running R&R.

Here's why I'm raising the boot.ini issue. The following is the content of my boot.ini file in the ibm_preload partition (C:\):

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\MiniNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\MiniNT="WinXP Fix"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

This is the file after correcting the HAL.DLL issue. Note it boots the \MinNT directory on the servicev001 partition(E:\). Therefore, I don't get the operating system to load.

Interestingly, the contents of the boot.ini file in the root directory of the servicev001 partition (E:\) is as follows:

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=C:\
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
C:\ = "PC-DOS"

I think this is the boot.ini I need on the ibm_preload partition(C:\). For some reason, I can't copy the file to that partition when running Ubuntu. In effect, it's saying I'm not authorzed. I may try starting up with a DOS simulator and trying to replace the boot.ini file.

Ok, you dont want/need to overwrite the 1st boot.ini... you can just add the line

C:\ = "PC-DOS"

to it, the default probably shouldn't be loading either boot.ini's default... #1 boot ini is the MS recovery console, #2 boot.ini is on a different recovery partition, that the machine sets active when you press the key combo to recover...


Won't hurt anything to add C:\ = "PC-DOS" to the #1 boot.ini... but it probably won't boot when selected from the F8 menu...

The problem on the Ubuntu live CD is probably that Ubuntu is mounting the drive as read only, and booting to DOS won't help as the partition(1) is most likely NTFS which DOS can't understand natively.

Anyhow... do this so I can see more... boot to the Ubuntu Live CD, open a terminal, enter the following 2 commands....

sudo fdisk -l

mount

paste all that info here...

As far as booting now, does it boot into the MS recovery prompt? Have you pressed F8 to bring up the boot menu and tried selecting "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"?

Looks to me like the main problem is the #1 boot.ini has the MS recovery shell set as the default boot entry...

should be:

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

This would be to boot Windows XP Professional as the default if the user doesn't press F8 to select another entry.

The 2nd boot.ini that defaults to c:\ is only used if you press the key for recovery at boot time. (the Access ThinkPad or Access IBM button)... I don't think you ever mentioned your model so I'm not sure which.

Anyhoo, with the info from the 2 commands above, I can walk you through editing your boot ini to make Windows the default, but if you haven't already, access the F* boot menu and choose Windows... might suprise you and boot to windows

OK here's the terminal output:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 20673 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 20579 155577208+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 20580 20673 710640 1c Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ mount
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
tmpfs on /lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic/volatile type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic/volatile type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
/dev/bus/usb on /proc/bus/usb type none (rw,bind)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
varrun on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=0755)
varlock on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=1777)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devshm on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

F8 gives me two choices and their respective error messages after selection:

WinXP Fix (from HAL.DLL problem correction procedure)

...following file is missing or corrupt:
\MiniNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM - [cause for my original posting]

Microsoft Windows XP Professional

...following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll

Ok, we need to start by getting the 2nd boot option fixed...

...following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll

We need to get you into the MICROSOFT recovery console (not lenovo recovery)...

Do you have another windows machine with a cd burner? If so, get this:

http://vlaurie.com/computers2/downloads ... ole_cd.zip

extract it to a folder on the desktop

download this file from microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/de ... en&id=1000

it will be "WindowsXP-KB310994-SP2-Pro-BootDisk-ENU" (with .exe if you see file extensions)

move this to the folder you extracted recovery_console.zip to and rename it "BootDisk"

then in that same folder run RecoveryCD(.bat)

This will guide you through creating a Windows XP recovery console bootable CD, I would just post a link to a premade ISO, but there is a license agreement to be clicked on from MS (PM me if you just can't get the CD made).

Now, with this new bootable CD in the drive, you can boot into the MS recovery console and run that command from earlier.... "bootcfg /rebuild"

this part will fix the boot.ini (which the Windows XP part looks correct already)... Not sure where the "Fix XP" came from.

When booting from Linux, it doesn't appear that you have mounted the hard disk, had you accessed it from the "Places" menu yet? I believe if this is how you were accessing them they were auto mounted as read only.

As far as the boot.ini on the 2nd partition (/dev/sda2 above), the partition is hidden to windows(this is normal), it is made active when you press the IBM/Lenovo button during boot to access the IBM/Lenovo recovery.

your boot.ini for partition 1 with windows installed to c:\windows should be:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

either by mounting read/write in Linux, or booting to the MS recovery CD you made and running "bootcfg /rebuild" will fix the boot.ini.... if it doesn't boot after that, then you need to copy hal.dll to c:\windows\system32.

The only other fix is to find an actual windows XP cd, boot from it and do a repair install.