I would LOVE a new laptop, however, my budget doesn't allow it right now.
I replaced the hard drive once and it failed, so the company sent me another one which I replaced probably in April/May.
I have recovery disks (learned after the big crash of 09!)
Do not have much software installed.
I have some old back up files.
I have 9 disks that Norton sent me b/c I couldn't retrieve my data from their online back-up
I have a Compaq presario...don't have the model number since I'm at work.
That sounds like the model -- Compaq Presario CQ56-115DX -- I bought a couple of for a family member and he has hard drive problems -- on one of them when he was in SC they said, the second time the drive failed after a replacement, to send ite in for service and since there was an official HP service center a couple of hours away he took it in.
Had to leave it because they said they had to replace the motherboard "had a lot of problems with it and we are out of stock".
Now the other one he has has gone down again after 2 drive replacements and they've had him send it in (he's in MT at the moment) and it's due back today ....
So I would recommend you get onto HP right away and lean gently on them ... you can be sympathetic saying you know they are having a lot of problems with hard drives at the moment (apart from their other problems with having announced they want to give up the PC business!).
Even if it is out of warranty I'd be surprised if you can't get a fix, at least for now ......
Some of these need the Windows XP installation disk (the Microsoft one and not the CQ Recovery One) so that''s out although if you could borrow one for the same XP version that you have Microsoft have no objection to you using it but the big problem can be that if you have updated to XP SP3 then you need an XP SP3 disk and those are rare and mostly "home made" by slipstreaming the SP3 into the XP and burning a new CD .... Not practical.
Do you have access to another computer because if you do you can always pull the disk out of the laptop and use an adapter to plug it into the USB socket on another computer and then if you can see the files (doesn't require the drive to boot up) you can copy your data files to safety.
Then you can try anything you like on the drive including getting HP to send you one along with a set of recovery media which is what they have been doing in the family case I mentioned.
Here's a link to the sort of adapter that I use and it has saved my bacon many times already ...
That's the actual one I use and where I got it from ... but you will probably find similar if you have any decent computer stores nearby ... but probably a bit more expensive ....
See what others suggest since I've never (yet) had to do anything myself about a hal error.
In all the times I have ever seen that error "hal.dll is missing or corrupt", not once has it ever been missing or corrupt.
The problem is always because the system can't find the file or it's looking in the wrong place.
Thats a very good article Hugh, all those other steps outline the actual problems that cause the error.
However, in your case molly, the chances are that it's a hard drive problem. Even if it wasn't, the hard drve problem is the first thing you need to address.
If your getting SMART warnings about hard drive problems you need to immediatly get any important data off that drive before it fails, I have never seen such a warning that was wrong.
Do you have an external drive you can attach to your system and do you have another working system at home?
All my data was backed up online w/Norton and I have 9 disks with all the backup.
If I lose anything, not a big deal...I have pics and music backed up elsewhere
When I was searching on the HAL error I actually came across a post where someone with a Seagate drive actually said that it did pass the Seagate drive fitness test so .......
I think you ought to make absolutely sure that you can recover those files you have backed up OnLine and to disk by trying to get them (Again -- do you have access to another computer?) or at least a sample.
And I'd immediately tackle HP/Comapq for a replacement drive BECAUSE it is not IF my hard drive fails .... it is WHEN my hard drive fails ... Every hard drive will fail .....
And if you can afford the $40 or so give me the details of the CQ model and I'll idientify the drive -- care to say which State you live in, if it's in the USA?
Yes, Smart monitors many other things besides bad sectors or other errors.
A hard drive can sometimes still pass diagnostic tests and give the SMART warnings.
I would trust the SMART warnings over any other tests. The SMART warnings are part of the drive and made by the manufactures of the drive, it is in there best interest to make them as accurate as possible and not to give false errors.
They base drive replacements on these errors, they would loose a fortune if they gave false warnings or even warnings earlier than necessary.
However, thats just my opinion from my experiance over the years, you can turn off the warnings in your system BIOS if you don't believe them.
If you use a retail XP installation CD you can boot to the recovery console and do a "Fixboot" followed by a "Fixmbr".
If that doesn't work you have 2 options:
1) obtain or make an XP installation disk with the same service pack level as the installed system and do a repair installation.
2) Restore the system to factory state using the recovery disks and then restore your data and re-install your programs.
I think the second option would be better, reading your posts leads me to believe you have other windows problems.
The problems you describe with windows locking up or freezing indicate a problem with Windows and not the Norton backup. In post #6 the error given is a "read error" indicating a corrupted file or hard drive problem, both of those reasons have to do with windows.
In my opinion, the problems you been having with Online backup are indications of a bigger problem and have nothing to do with Norton online backup or 360.
The only other computer I have is at work, and I'm having the IT guy help me.
I have bought and replaced two hard drives since January so I don't really want to buy and replace another one if that too is just going to fail.
Thanks for the info...it's too much for me to think about right now.
I'm glad you've got some professional hands on help but I hope he too will tell you that to continue running a hard drive wher SMART reports a fault is not a wise thing. If you do not replace the drive it will crash just when most inconvenient to you. If you do replace the drive you will get a breathing spell.
If you go to HP it should cost you nothing, although if they do want to do a motherboard replacement that could mean it will be out of your hands for a few days, unless you can arrange a take-in to one of their official support centers.
But if you can afford the relatively small sum for buying a drive retail you can end up with a new drive, possibly better than the old one in quality and with a 3 year warranty -- which is what I did. I got a Westren Digital Scorpio Blue 250GB 2.5in SATA drive with a 3 year warranty for $40
Western Digital - Scorpio Blue 250GB Internal Serial ATA Hard Drive for Laptops it's $45 now.
ok..here's my stupid question: Does the computer make the hard drive fail...or have I just had 2 faulty hard drives. I'll have to check at home, but the
Western Digital - Scorpio Blue 250GB Internal Serial ATA Hard Drive
sounds like what I had and that's about what I paid for it. Had one, it failed, they replaced it, and now this one is failing???.
No stupid questions .. just the ones you don't ask .....
<< Does the computer make the hard drive fail...or have I just had 2 faulty hard drives. >>
I'm not sufficiently uptodate technically to be dogmatic on this. BUT -- there is the situation that happened here to the family member where after several drives had gone down, HP said send the laptop in since we have to change the motherboard. Although whether that was for the reason given or not one never knows .... I think the latest drive crash was on the CQ that had had one drive replaced already but it was not the one with the motherboard replaced after 2 crashed drives.
Was the PC out of warranty when you bought the replacement drive? Was that why you did it that way?
I don't believe very strongly that the computer could damage the hard drive (although the user could! Hard drives don't like bumps while the PC is on).
See if anyone here has any advice on probabilities .....
PS -- CAn you give me the model number of your Compaq so I can check it out and see if it is the same as the ones here.
The Compaqs I was referring to were all laptops (the latest came back today and they only replaced the hard drive and not the motherboard as well which they had told him was needed so he's getting back onto them ....)
which I see came with XP -- you still have XP on it but I imagine you hve updated Windows to SP 3 -- did you get instructions on this since there are a lot of updates they say needed to be installed before going to SP 1 to avoid problems.
THe IT guy had the computer running perfectly...rebooted several times, came right back up, was fast, etc, etc.
Tried to install the first disk that I got from Norton, it went about 1/2 way thru and froze up.
Forget the Norton disks ...
Since it got stuck use the Norton Removal Tool to clean up any files that got installed. Don't follow the instructions for getting the copy of N 360 to install but download the following file and run it to install from.
Make sure you get the right version since the keys are not interchangeable. SAVE the file where you can find it -- do not run it from the download site when Windows asks what you want to do.
You can download that file on any computer and transfer it to a thumbdrive to install on another.
When the installation is finished run LiveUpdate several times with a reboot inbetween until it tell you that you are fully uptodate and then reboot one more time!
When it asks you to activate it you can click on Subscrib/Renew and enter the key there.
Computer is up and running...all the data from the Norton disks was reloaded. The IT guy took everything off my computer, reinstalled most of the programs. I reinstalled Norton, ran Live Update several times and rebooted each time. The hard drive is working great, computer is faster. The only problem is that some of my music is not working in Itunes. I tried to restore the files from the online back up and it didn't work. I had a back-up disk that I'd made about a year ago and used that.
So...for now. It's working quite well. ...and yes, I know....it's not IF the hard drive will fail, it's WHEN.
My question now is my "favorites" are in a directory...how do I get them back in favorites?
THANKS to everyone for the help and advice and putting up with my whining!
Re favorites -- Favorites are shortcuts and should live in a folder called Favorites which is probably under your User Name / My Documents.
Is that where the folder you refer to is located? When you click on Favourites on the bar above the screen do you not see them?
If you can locate thetwo folders -- the empty one that relates to that Favorites button and the one you can see you can just copy/paste after selecting all the entries in the folder you can see.
But I'm not in XP at the moment so I can't cross check this -- your IT guy should know .....
