Problem with Repair Install of Windows 7

[Positivelyerik]

Hello there,
I'm attempting to do a repair install of my OS.
One day I turned on my PC and the HAL.DLL file was missing. I re-loaded this file from the Windows disc using the safe mode repair CMD. This fixed that issues; however now when I start Windows it's telling me that my copy is not genuine and furthermore in the Windows Property tabs there's no section to re-enter my product Key or Re-activate my copy.

After wasting over 5 hours on the phone with Microsoft support (not even kidding) the support agent advised me to do an "Upgrade" install to replace all the system files. Then afterwards I should be able to re-activate my copy of Windows 7.

The installation goes fine up until the very last step where is indicates that it's moving files, programs and settings. When it gets to this section the following error message pops up:

"Some or more windows components could not be installed. Please exit the installation and restart"

Any help? I'm dying here.

 

[yodap]

Hey, welcome to the forum!

If you can save/copy your data to another disc or someplace safe, you should do a new "clean install" even if you only have the Upgrade Version.

Yours is the classic case of why upgrade = death.

Post back if you are willing and we'll find you the links on how. Try to save your data first.

 

[Positivelyerik]

Hey Yodap,
Thanks. Do you basically mean I should just to a format of the drive and re-install the system? I was hoping to avoid that. I'm actually a film maker/Audio Engineer and although I don't have any data on this drive I have more software and plugins than one can imagine. It's such a pain in the a$$ to re-install everything and get it all configured and functioning again. Although I fear you are right and this may be my only option.

 

[yodap]

Yeah, that would be my advice. Certainly you should wait around for more input from others but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Post some computer specs for us, and what flavor of W7 you have. That might help.

 

[Positivelyerik]

It's Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit it's an OEM/Builders copy if that makes a difference.
Asus Rampage III Extreme Mobo
i7 X58 Chipset (was running it overclocked but clocked it back before install)
24GB DDR3 1333mhz OCZ (Was overclocked again, but clocked back before install)
EVGA GTX 480 Card x 2

 

[TrainableMan]

In Control Panel\System at the very bottom is an option to Change Product Key which you might try to see if you can get rid of the not genuine.

But the truth is I agree also believe your system will be much more stable with a install to a freshly formatted drive rather than over an upgrade. You might try using WET (Windows Easy Transfer) to back up your userids and settings and then restore them after the fresh OS install but you will need to reinstall all your software.

 

[Positivelyerik]

In Control Panel\System at the very bottom is an option to Change Product Key which you might try to see if you can get rid of the not genuine.

Thanks Trainable Man,

However as noted in my initial post. The system menu does not give me the option to change the product key. I just get "Not Available" in both fields at the bottom. According to Windows support this happens when a system file is changed to prevent hacking of the OS to prevent piracy. I think a fresh install may be my only option here

 

[yodap]

It's Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit it's an OEM/Builders copy if that makes a difference.
Asus Rampage III Extreme Mobo
i7 X58 Chipset (was running it overclocked but clocked it back before install)
24GB DDR3 1333mhz OCZ (Was overclocked again, but clocked back before install)
EVGA GTX 480 Card x 2

Not sure you got enough hardware there to run W7 properly.






Hah, just kidding!

 

[Positivelyerik]

I honestly was considering for a second that I maybe had too much and just broke it.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Have your tried typing "Activate" in the Start Orb's search window and going from there?

If not, do a clean fresh install. You'll be fine. Just be sure you have the latest up-to-date drivers for the motherboard, etc.

24 GB of RAM is an overkill by about a factor of 3 to 4.... why do you need all that RAM? Just Curious.

 

[Positivelyerik]

Have your tried typing "Activate" in the Start Orb's search window and going from there?

I have, I also have tried the back end "secret" activation code via CMD. Both fail with different error messages.

 

[TrainableMan]

in the Windows Property tabs there's no section to re-enter my product Key or Re-activate my copy.

I did read that but I didn't understand you meant that was control panel\system.

I think you are looking at a full install.

 

[yodap]

24 GB of RAM is an overkill by about a factor of 3 to 4.... why do you need all that RAM? Just Curious.

Video creation and editing.

Still a lot though.

 

[Positivelyerik]

I did read that but I didn't understand you meant that was control panel\system.

I think you are looking at a full install.

Ya my bad for not being clear enough.
I think I'm starting to agree. Hate to admit it.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Video creation and editing.

Still a lot though.

By about 12GB to be honest. I'll wager his RAM usage doesn't go above 8 GB total even during the most intensive video editing process.

 

[Positivelyerik]

24 GB of RAM is an overkill by about a factor of 3 to 4.... why do you need all that RAM? Just Curious.

Editing RED and Phantom footage shot in 4k resolution in real time with real time rendering. My options where 12gb or 24gb. 12gb isn't enough. When editing I'm averaging about 16gb even with both video cards having 1.5gb GPU's. I agree 24gb is a lot and of course I've never used the full 24gb; but the price difference wasn't significant enough to make me not just get the full 24gb.

 

[catilley1092]

I had a notebook that constantly "dropped" files, especially the "hal dll" one, it turned out that my hard drive was bad. If you do a fresh install, which I suggest you do, and the file goes missing again, you have problems that needs attention.

There are a couple of free tools to help you determine your drive's health. The Acronis Drive Monitor gives you all kinds of info regarding the health of your drive. It can be found at:

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/drive-monitor/

The other tool can be found in the Free Software Database on this forum. It's called MiniTool Wizard Home Edition. You can install it, and there is a tool on it to do a surface test of your drive.

While there could be other problems, a good place to start would be your hard drive.

Best of Luck,
Cat

 

[Positivelyerik]

I had a notebook that constantly "dropped" files, especially the "hal dll" one, it turned out that my hard drive was bad. If you do a fresh install, which I suggest you do, and the file goes missing again, you have problems that needs attention.

There are a couple of free tools to help you determine your drive's health. The Acronis Drive Monitor gives you all kinds of info regarding the health of your drive. It can be found at:

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/drive-monitor/

The other tool can be found in the Free Software Database on this forum. It's called MiniTool Wizard Home Edition. You can install it, and there is a tool on it to do a surface test of your drive.

While there could be other problems, a good place to start would be your hard drive.

Best of Luck,
Cat

That's a good suggestion. I didn't consider the drive may be bunk. Hopefully not!

 

[Digerati]

I am actually going through this same process right now with a machine that was getting the hal.dll missing or corrupt error. Past experience with this told me I just need to forget it and do a complete fresh format and reinstall, but this being the first Windows 7 machine I've encountered with this problem, I tried all the recommended solutions first. Once again, a total waste of time as all those efforts were as futile as resisting the Borg.

So I attempted to reformat and encountered a disk error. I started chkdsk /r last night at about 8PM. It just finished today at 6PM. It's a 1Tb drive so I expected a good 12 hours - not almost 24. It did find some errors, but I will likely run the WD diagnostics and maybe chkdsk again before I am comfortable putting this machine back in service. If I don't get a warm fuzzy soon about it, I will just replace the drive.