error Msg: cant find hal.dll

[gluni]

hi,

thx for ur cool tool.

i tried to run it as instructed under point 7 of the bootmanager instructions ("Run from the Windows boot menu (2K, XP and VISTA)"). It gives me the boot.ini boot menu as planned (c:\plop\plpbtldr.bin="PLoP Boot Manager"), when i select this i get  "missing hal.dll) and have to reboot. it does not show the starfield menu.

it seems its not loading plpbtldr.bin but something else (ntldr?), since i assume that plpbtldr.bin does not include or require the presence of hal.dll?

do i have to execute anything thats not described under the mentioned instruction set?

anyone with any idea?

thx folks

EDIT:
i now reached the "starfield" using grldr instead of ntldr(boot.ini).
The problem now is that it doesnt find my cdrom (internal IDE drive).

[Elmar]

hi,
what windows do you use?

regards
elmar

[gluni]

im using XP Pro latest updates, legal version.

[Elmar]

its the first time i hear from that problem. i have no idea whats wrong.

[gluni]

OK, no worries, its most likely due to a special configuration on that computer.

Do u have any hints about the "CDROM NOT FOUND" message? I tried several cd-rw and cd-r.
The Boot from cdrom is disabled in the BIOS, but this should not be an issue when selecting "CDROM" from the starfield menu, should it?

[Elmar]

The Boot from cdrom is disabled in the BIOS, but this should not be an issue when selecting "CDROM"

correct.

what connection type is it? currently only ide cdroms are supported. sata and scsi cdroms are not working

[gluni]

its a Matshita DVD RAM, internal drive, the Device Manager says its IDE (under Details).
There is a cd spin up on boot, however when i wait  a few secs and then choose "CDROM" in the starfield menu, there is not even a spin up anymore, so the problem is most likely not the disc itself.

[Elmar]

it looks like your computer does not like my boot manager

[gluni]

it seems so, but at least the usb part worked using mode 2 compat for usb 1.1

its definitely a great tool, maybe future versions will be more fujitsu lifebook friendly...

thx anyway

[gluni]

Just for the sake of giving You a complete feedback:

I tested the bootmanager on another computer without the BIOS restrictions and with completely different hardware (2 years older at least). It still came up with "CDROM not found" or "Medium not bootable" (cant remember excatly). I then tested these CDs on the same hardware by directly booting from them and this went fine. So i can eliminate the CDs and my CDROM drives as an error source (at least in my understanding of the problem).

I have also tested this inside VMWare, where i also get the same errors. So actually 3 different CDROM drives (new laptop, old desktop and VMWare virtual IDE) have failed.

I have also tested bootable DVDs (burned by me and pressed by Heise), bootable CD-R and CD-RW.

It might very well be that my understanding is incomplete, but since i actually managed to boot an USB stick i guess it cant be totally wrong.

Best regards,

Jeff

[Elmar]

i know that it does not work with the vware cdrom (qemu too) but usually real ide cdrom drives are no problem.

[Helios]

Hello!

I believe I have just encountered the same hal.dll problem that Gluni ran into.  After following the instructions to run PLoP from the Windows boot menu and selecting the "Install PLoP Boot Manager" option upon startup there is an error message that reads:

"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."

Gluni, you mentioned in your edit that you changed something in order to get Bootmanager to work.  Could you elaborate on what you did?  I'm relatively new to this sort of thing so I haven't been able to figure out how to fix the problem on my own. 

My machine is a ten-year old IBM Thinkpad 570E currently running Windows XP Professional SP2. 

Thanks a lot you guys--I'm really looking forward to this program and I hope I can get it to work. 

Peace.

[gluni]

Im not sure if i can really help because it seems my hardware is the main issue for me.

The instructions i referred to (Bootmanager, Section 7, Undersection "Run from Windows Boot menu") lead me to the mentioned "hal.dll" error. Since i also have grub4dos installed i tried to make it work using the "Run from GRUB / grub4dos" instruction set.

But this is only an option for u if you consider installing Grub/Grub4dos as a bootmanager.

From there u could still boot any windows by chainloading "ntldr" for XP or "bootmgr" for vista/7 and additionally Plop or whatever.

i hope this can be of any help. good luck.

[Elmar]

hi,
to be sure that it still works here, i tried it with a windows xp home. it worked without problems. i have not win xp professional to test it with that windows version. i don't know whats going wrong

regards
elmar

[target_locked]

I got exactly same issue.
After install Plop (latest version 5.0.15) to MBR, I select from XP boot menu
C:\plop\plpbt4winmbr.ldr="Install/Remove the Plop Boot Manager [MBR]"
But I got error message:
"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."

I check again and see that the PC has SATA HDD.

Is that the reason (Sata) cause PLOP not to install?
And why Plop install ask for hal.dll? At this time I think Plop has nothing related to Windows.

Thanks.

P/S: I don't have issue with ATA HDD. At least 3 PCs work well.

[target_locked]

I got exactly same issue.
After install Plop (latest version 5.0.15) to MBR, I select from XP boot menu
C:\plop\plpbt4winmbr.ldr="Install/Remove the Plop Boot Manager [MBR]"
But I got error message:
"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."

I check again and see that the PC has SATA HDD.

Is that the reason (Sata) cause PLOP not to install?
And why Plop install ask for hal.dll? At this time I think Plop has nothing related to Windows.

Thanks.

P/S: I don't have issue with ATA HDD. At least 3 PCs work well.

Finally I found solution:
This method work with PC that has SATA HDD.

How to install Plop to MBR using CD/USB boot image?
Assume that USB can boot using GRUB 4 DOS
Copy file plop_inst.iso from [install] folder to USB
Modify menu.lst
---
title 11a. plop_inst.iso Mem
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /plop_inst.iso
map /plop_inst.iso (hd32)
map --hook
root (hd32)
chainloader (hd32)
boot
----
Boot to Plop and select HDD to install.
You can short uninstall Plop from MBR (not full uninstall)