Windows 7 went crazy...

[N2gaming]

My Widows 7 computer has been running great for 3 1/2 yrs now but today while editing some photos it all of a sudden crashed and now I get a message saying that the (windows root) system32\hal..dll is corrupt.

And of course I cant get into windows so is there a work around or am I screwed? I can't find my win7 disc but buting another one is Ok if I have to.

Will I be able to install win7 again over my original installation? Or should I just buy win8 or win10. Btw, I'm a gamer and amateur photographer.
Thanks, James

 

[Ketchup]

Does Windows run in safe mode? The only way I know of to "repair" Windows is from within the OS in standard mode.

You might want to give this page a shot:
https://neosmart.net/wiki/hal-dll-missing-corrupt/

 

[N2gaming]

Thanks, I forgot about 'safemode'.

 

[Mushkins]

If you have another PC, you can download Windows 7 media and boot into the system recovery console to do a startup repair.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html

Honestly, every time I have ever seen that error message it's meant the OS is corrupted. Even if you can manage a startup repair and get back into your system I would highly recommend backing it all up and doing a clean reinstall. Also check the health of the drive you're installing on.

 

[N2gaming]

Hey Group,
I thought I would post this little info I found because I did not know this. When installing Windows 7 you have to use the install number that Microsoft provides to register it, you know that little sticker with the the 25 numbers.

Anyway, you can go to the Microsoft Windows 7 webpage and enter that install number and and then download Windows 7 since you had already registered it. This saved my fanny since I lost my Windows 7 DVD somewhere in DVD LIMBO land

Here is the Windows 7 site as an example;

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7

 

[corkyg]

You can also boot using your original DVD and do a repair install.

 

[N2gaming]

I didnt have it...

 

[Puffnstuff]

Now that this has happened to you I would definitely download a legit iso and burn a copy of it to dvd to have on hand should anything happen in the future. I keep a copy of each of my OS's on dvd just in case something should go awry, and it often times does so without any warning. I was working with an excel project the other night using office 2016 and while using the bing maps add on in an attempt to create a 2d map to show sales data it took out my office and then I wasn't able to do anthing with the repair or uninstall utility so I just did another clean install of everything.

 

[N2gaming]

Good advise Puff, I had to burn it on a DVD from my laptop and its now in a top secret place