Some review sites and forums recommended Norton Cleaner NPE and I stupidly downloaded it to catch any last traces of malware that no longer showed up in Malwarebytes, Superantispyware, McAfee. Now I get the black screen when I try to access Windows. Message is: windows could not open corrupt or damaged file Windows root\system 32\hal.dll. In these forums I read that Norton has conflicts, also error announcements and boot options occur when software is installed that results in corrupting Windows OS files (that is a rough quote) the good news is that it is not fatal and F8 gets me in. I am not a tech - but does anyone have an easy solution (I can hear you laughing). I may just live with the annoyance but would like reassurance that it won't kill me at least until I upgrade from XP. Thanks.
Accessing the Master Boot Menu via F8, select:
Last known good configuration. <— which should give you a "do-over" from prior to your recent problematic changes.
probably also available in that same menu is:
System Restore - which will allow you to select to roll-back your machine to any of several points prior to your recent difficulty.
(Note: When you roll back, you will need to Update Windows and fix things that might have needed fixing back at the selected time)
Thanks. Yes, I can get in exactly that way thru F8 and go to the last working connection. As I said, I am not a tech so if I go to the system restore calendar and choose a day last week (before I tried Norton) that may work. Any downside to that? I am now totally paranoid! It should keep SP3, etc. not worried about photos, email and have no work on this machine.
I have McAfee with AT&T and that is it. I have used scans like Malwarebytes, SuperAnti Spyware, Stinger, TDSSKiller to get rid of recent trojan - but they are not my subscribed "on" security although I rely on them and scan regularly. Never open attachments- thought I was being pretty good and careful.
I am mad at myself for using Norton Clean up and not knowing what it could do - everything was finally running OK again, I just wanted to be sure it was as clean as I could get it and surprise!!! Thanks to all you out there who try to help -
Try: "Last known good configuration" first.
then if necessary you can select from System Restore Points prior to the problem.
With either option, once you know the machine if functioning as you would expect, then go to Microsoft Windows Updates.
sorry - didn't realize i was in 2 forums. just looking everywhere for answers. here's what happened when I tried to access system restore both ways (safe mode and programs/accessories/system restore): "system restore is unable to protect your computer. please restart your computer then run system restore again" Many restarts and the same message. so now system restore is damaged. for now, I am using F8 to connect but as to solving/repairing sys rest it may be beyond my skill level - but I will listen to any suggestions and thank you much.
Were you able or unable to Select "Last know good configuration" ?
As to the failure of System Restore….
You may not have had System Restore "turned on" for your C:\ drive partition
Or
Your recent use of the various malware utilities may have identified and removed some items from System Restore files.
Wouldn't that be a good thing?
Well, no.
Because any one System Restore Point is a large file organized in serial-position similar to a link-chain.
If an item in a System Restore Point is corrupted or removed, it is like breaking a link in the chain.
The file remains in place, but is no longer useable.
That "may" have been what happened to your machine's System Restore function.
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Are you able to fully boot Windows Normally?
When you attempt to boot Windows via the F8 Master Boot Menu, what method do you use, and what option do you select?
If you are able to boot into Windows, then please have a look in Event Viewer to see if there are any Warnings or Error Messages that could help us with diagnosis of the problem.
Event viewer:
Instructions for Windows 7
Start Orb: (type) View Event Logs
Select: Windows Logs
Select: System
Browse through the list of recent events to see if there appears to be anything relevant
Instructions for Windows XP
Start - Control Panel - Administrative tools - Event Viewer - System
that took awhile. looked up error messages. Yes, I boot thru F8 by selecting Last known good….
Don't know if system restore was turned on - but on 6/10 saw this error message: system restore filter encountered unexpected err 0xC0000001 while processing file on volume harddisk volume 2. It has stopped monitoring the volume. Don't have any idea if that means it stopped working on 6/10.
Lots of stuff seems OK on the events list - like Windows updates - then 6/23 (I think that's the Norton episode) these errors: webclient services terminated cannot find specified file, specified serrvice does not exist. it doesn't say what service - restore? boot? Still able to do OK with F8. More error messages: devices attached to system not functioning,
TCP/IP NET BIOS helper depends on AFD service - attached device not functioning
Failed to start: AFD Fips inteppm IPSec mfehidk (this is my McAfee which it noted failed to start but I checked and it seems OK) MRxSmb Net Bios Net BT RasAcd
Rdbss SASDIFSV SASKUTIL Tcpip
I am using everything OK so these must be refering to something I am not using. I think I have successfully removed all Norton that may have damaged restore and what I guess is called main boot file Windows root\system32\hal.dll is that BIOS? what device is boot attached to that is not attached? is this an event before I access windows thru F8?
Honestly, I don't know one file (name) from another. At this point I am so outa my league. thanks. oh - by errors I mean what I found on the events log
Do you now, or have you ever had more than your current main Hard Drive (the one that has C:\ partition) physically installed inside of that machine?
If so, the BIOS may be set to look for the wrong Hard Drive first, and failing finding a bootable sector on that hypothetically wrong Hard Drive, fails and then moves to search for another bootable source, ultimately finding the Hard Drive that does have Windows installed.
Let us know if the above is the case.
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Now before you pursue any additional steps of repair…
Do you have all of your important information, documents and media Backed UP to a safe external source…. either on CD/DVD or on External Hard Drive?
The next set of procedures you will probably have to employ are "safe" but even safe procedures can have unintended consequences, including losing all of your important data
therefore, before we move forward verify the status of all the material that you would hate to lose.
Please let us know the status, then we can move forward with attempts to repair boot.ini and Master Boot Record.
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