The General "Computer Issues" Thread

[Hanshotfirst1138]

According to my computer, there is a Microsoft visual C++ Runtime Library Error (in what is evidently called Program C:\Program Files\Dell Photo AIO Printer 962\dlbxmon.exe, the application has terminatated in an unusual). In other words, my printer won't work . I tried ininstalling the whole driver, and then reinstalling it, but so far no luck. I'm curious as to if anyone can help.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

before that error happened, did u install, update or change anything on your computer? That's including windows update, software update, software install, anything. Any settings you changed in control panel, or in msconfig? Also try to reboot and pressing F8 key at startup and go to last good known configuration. As a last resort, try go to safe mode by using F8 angain and a do a system restore from a restore point that was before this problem happaned.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

before that error happened, did u install, update or change anything on your computer? That's including windows update, software update, software install, anything. Any settings you changed in control panel, or in msconfig? Also try to reboot and pressing F8 key at startup and go to last good known configuration. As a last resort, try go to safe mode by using F8 angain and a do a system restore from a restore point that was before this problem happaned.

Indeed I did use Windows Update (though it still what update what I want it to, but that's another issue).

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Indeed I did use Windows Update (though it still what update what I want it to, but that's another issue).

You should try to do the Last Good Known Configuration, if it doesn't help, try a System Restore to before that update.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Why would Windows Update mess things up so much?

 

[Silverstar]

You'd be surprised how many seemingly unrelated programs and features are actually connected.

I have Spybot Search and Destroy on the main computer on our home network. About a week or so ago, it updated itself with a feature called Tea Timer which alerts you on updates and changes and asks if you want to cancel or allow them, in techno-jargon. Well, I must've canceled when I should've allowed something, because this past Saturday, my Search Companion and System Restore were both removed; they each came up as blank pages with no commands.

I spent days mulling over how to restore them (I couldn't use System Restore to bring my PC back to a time before the accident since SR was disabled), but nothing I tried or read about on repair forums bore fruit.

Finally on someone's advice, I was told that there was no permanent way to bring Search Companion back, and that my best option was to use a program called Tweak UI to install the Windows 2000 version of Search, which I did. (This version has no cute assistant characaters or sound effects, but it works.) As soon as the W2K Search was installed, System Restore was back. I thought I'd have to put them both back individually, but no, it just popped back up as if it had never gone anywhere.

Neeldess to say, I've since created a new Restore point and used msconfig to to disable Spybot S&D's Tea Timer function so it no longer starts automatically when I turn the computer on.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Why would Windows Update mess things up so much?

simple, if it was a security fix, which they usually are, it plugs a few security holes, some of those holes might have a printer driver exploit being plugged, hence your printer driver went kaput. Like most updates, they fix one thing and unintentionally break another, this is not just true with Windows, any software has that potential problem.

 

[Nel_Annette]

Yeah, some updates tend to mess up my comp.

Right now, whenever I start up my computer, it always does disk checking (as it usually does when something is very wrong) and gets halted at 15%. I've tried everything and the only problem I can find is a folder that I can't delete because apparently, "Folder no longer exists." Then why is it there?

Not to mention every other screen I go through on the internet delivers a "Address not found" message, so I have to refresh every other page.

I envy the tech-knowledgeable.

 

[Silverstar]

Yeah, some updates tend to mess up my comp.

Right now, whenever I start up my computer, it always does disk checking (as it usually does when something is very wrong) and gets halted at 15%. I've tried everything and the only problem I can find is a folder that I can't delete because apparently, "Folder no longer exists." Then why is it there?

I envy the tech-knowledgeable.

Try clicking on Run on your Start menu, then typing msconfig and then going into your Startup Applications folder. From there you should be able to just uncheck the Disk Checker function since it seems to be set to start every time you turn your computer on. Just uncheck it, click Apply, then OK, and it shouldn't do that anymore.

Either that, or there's always the old tried-and-true System Restore; just set your comp back to an earlier time before this started happening.

 

[Nel_Annette]

Try clicking on Run on your Start menu, then typing msconfig and then going into your Startup Applications folder. From there you should be able to just uncheck the Disk Checker function since it seems to be set to start every time you turn your computer on. Just uncheck it, click Apply, then OK, and it shouldn't do that anymore.

Either that, or there's always the old tried-and-true System Restore; just set your comp back to an earlier time before this started happening.

Many thanks for the tip. I'll use the first one, as I already tried system restore for this problem, and the problem with that has been that it demands that a disc check be completed first before it restores, and the disc check freezes at 15%, and yadda yadda yadda the cycle of horror continues.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Many thanks for the tip. I'll use the first one, as I already tried system restore for this problem, and the problem with that has been that it demands that a disc check be completed first before it restores, and the disc check freezes at 15%, and yadda yadda yadda the cycle of horror continues.

I dont think the said suggestion above will help if even System restore cant be done. You might have a currupted volume, or bad secor/cluster on your hard drive. Try defragmenting your drive first. Then try the System Restore, and if it asks for scan disk, do it, it should go without a problem if Difrag was dome successfully. Then donwload speedfan http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php its a program that checks your pc temps, but it also checks your HDD's S.M.A.R.T. chip to make sure that the HDD hardware is functioning within limits. If you do a test and you see anything in red, time to backup your data and get a new drive, because your current one will be gone soon.
I had a HDD that the software showed 2 red marks, I ordered the new HDD but didnt back up the data, thinking that i will do so when my new drive arrives, 1 day before my drive arrived, the current hdd was unreadble.

So do a defragment, and try running System Restore again. If Difragment cant be done, format might be in order, but check the speedfan first to eliminate hardware damage. Because if the HDD is damaged, not even format will help.

 

[Radical Raven]

Does Dial-Up ruin downloads?

O.K., so, yesterday I was trying to download a 166 MB thingamabob from a website. I started it before I went to bed, (since it was going to take several hours). When I got up this morning, though, the download had stopped at 103 MB, leaving the file useless. I was using Mozilla Firefox with an AOL connection. Anybody here know about this?

 

[Rook]

Your connection timeouts after hitting a really low rate of download and eventually halting all together. Happens all the time, even on cable users. You'll have to restart it over or find the file on a torrent.

 

[Mynd Hed]

Anything that interrupts your internet service for any length of time could potentially screw up a download in progress. Dialup connections tend to be less stable and more prone to disconnection than most other types of internet connection, so you do the math. (-: Plus they're slow, hence downloads take longer, hence a greater chance of a disconnect happening in that length of time.

 

[defunctzombie]

I spent days mulling over how to restore them (I couldn't use System Restore to bring my PC back to a time before the accident since SR was disabled), but nothing I tried or read about on repair forums bore fruit.

XP has a repair function on the disc, but a whole lot of help it did me when I screwed up my shared documents folder (I somehow locked myself out of it). An internet search fixed my problem, but you would think microsoft would have the repair solve things like this.

 

[Mynd Hed]

Background: I'm running Windows XP Pro SP3, my main C drive is a 150 gig WD Raptor, I haven't installed / uninstalled / updated anything to speak of recently that I know of. Can't think of anything else especially relevant, but if anybody's nice enough to try to help and needs more info about my system, let me know.

So when my computer boots, right after POST and before it starts showing any of the Windows startup screens, it gives me an error message telling me that a file called "hal.dll" is missing or corrupt and advises me to repair or replace it.

Exact text:

"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."

The weird thing is that if I have my Windows XP disc in the disc drive (and have my disc drive before my hard drive in my BIOS boot order), it does the disc check, gives me the option of booting from disc, and then boots normally without giving me that error message. So, upshot, I can get into Windows okay ONLY if I have the XP disc in the disc drive while I boot.

I did a Google search and found a page that offers several solutions:

Things I've Already Tried, In Order:

Tried System Restore, which does nothing. No matter how far back I go, it tells me that it cannot restore from the chosen point because no changes have been made to Windows.

Tried booting from the XP disc, going into the Windows Recovery console, and using the "bootcfg /rebuild" command, which is supposed to rebuild the boot.ini file. This did not fix the problem, and instead gives me a menu on booting which asks me if I'd rather boot with "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" or "Windows XP Professional." Whichever one I choose, it gives me the same "hal.dll is missing" error message.

Tried using the "fixboot" command in the Windows Recovery console. Does nothing.

Tried finding "hal.dll" on the Windows XP disc and manually copying it over to the "Windows\system32\" folder. After doing this, my computer began refusing to boot at all, regardless of whether the XP disc was in the drive.

Tried booting from the XP disc and doing a repair installation of Windows (which knocked me back to SP2, if that matters). This took care of the stupid menu thingy from a few steps back, and allows me to boot as long as I have the XP disc in the disc drive, but it still gives me the "hal.dll" error message whenever I try to boot without the XP disc in the drive.

Ran diskchk, which reported that it found some errors and fixed them, but didn't affect the original problem.

Defragged my C:\ drive just for kicks.

The only other thing I can think to do at this point is a total drive wipe and clean reinstall of Windows. Thankfully now that I can get into Windows with the XP disc in the drive again, I can easily make backups of important files, but I'm still considering this as a last resort because I just did this two months ago and REALLY don't feel like taking another two months to get all my programs reinstalled and all my settings back the way I want them.

Edit: Since the problem could possibly be hard-drive-related, I took En Sabah Nur's advice from a while back and installed SmartFan and did a HDD check. Results:

Attribute Current Raw Overall
10 Raw Read Error Rate 200 0 Very good
6 Spin Up Time 168 4633 Good
0 Start/Stop Count 99 1653 Watch
Warning: Start/Stop Count is below the average limits (100-100).
10 Reallocated Sector Count 200 0 Very good
10 Seek Error Rate 200 0 Very good
0 Power On Hours Count 88 8962 Watch
Warning: Power On Hours Count is below the average limits (96-100).
10 Spin Retry Count 100 0 Very good
10 Calibration Retry Count 100 0 Very good
0 Power Cycle Count 99 1647 Watch
Warning: Power Cycle Count is below the average limits (100-100).
10 Reallocated Event Count 200 0 Very good
10 Current Pending Sector 200 0 Very good
10 Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count 200 0 Very good
10 Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate 200 0 Very good
10 Write Error Rate 200 0 Very good

NOTE: not all warnings are reflected on fitness and performance overall values as relevancy is based upon the settings from the hard disk manufacturer who is the best entity deputed to define such relationships.

NOTE : your hard disk Power On Hours Count attribute current value (88) is below the normal range (96 - 100) reported for your specific hard disk model. Basically your hard disk was powered on for more than the maximum time the average user did. This means that either all of the reports collected are from hard disks that were not powered on for too long (this is realistic for recent models) or that your hard disk is becoming old. Usually this is not considered as a pre-failure advisory, but you should check whether you want to replace the hardware or keep an eye on its performances over time.

NOTE : your hard disk Power Cycle Count attribute current value (99) is below the normal range (100 - 100) reported for your specific hard disk model. Basically your hard disk was power cycled more times than the maximum number the average hard disk was. Power cycles put some stress on the hard disk mechanic. Sometimes power cycles can be caused by a loose hard disk power connector. Make sure it is properly fastened.

The overall fitness for this drive is 97%.
The overall performance for this drive is 97%.

I double-checked the power connector, it seems fine.

Am currently running full virus and spy/adware scans of all drives on the system, just in case. Doesn't seem like that could be the issue, but it never hurts to check.

Any advice?

 

[Yusuke Urameshi]

Hey um I have a question, maybe someone could help ?


Well, I have 2 computers, and my vista just broke down a month ago, and I was wondering if anyone could help..

Well, my vista has a problem where everytime I try to start it up, it starts to load, but every time its about to go to the start-up screen it turns black, and all I see is my cursor on screen, I dont know what to do about it, is it broken?

 

[Mynd Hed]

Dumb question, but have you tried just leaving it like that for a while? Mine does that, but it always boots into Windows after a couple seconds.

 

[purplehairedwonder]

Well, my vista has a problem where everytime I try to start it up, it starts to load, but every time its about to go to the start-up screen it turns black, and all I see is my cursor on screen, I dont know what to do about it, is it broken?

I run XP, but it does that when I try to boot it with my iPod plugged in. When I disconnect the USB cord and reboot again, it works fine. *shrug*

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Mynd Hed, did you try the system restore in safe mode? It only works normally in safe mode. Speedfan is giving you a couple of "watch" indicators to look out for. mostly it seems fine but checking it monthly would not hurt. You also could try to boot in Last good known configuration, but i doubt that would work afret so many reboots. Also, are you using sp2 or sp3? if you have SP2, try upgrading it sp3 it might fix the dll.

Im sure you googled Hal.dll and tried every option the first result page gave you. Including About.com one.
There are several pages in google about that dll but it seems to be you tried them all. The one microsoft offers is this one: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477
Microsoft offers 4 different methods of fixing in, including the one you already tried with boot.ini rebuild.

There is also this site that might offer you some tips, dont know if you tried this site already:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm

If all above fails, it seems that you ran out of options to try. System format might be your only salvation at this point. The problem with the pesky had.dll is that its a hardware specific dll and copying it from another machine or downloading it online would not help. Let me know any results.

http://forums.toonzone.net/member.php?u=4799