can linux save my life again?

[Jason Spatafore]

>>  I guess about the best news I could hear now is that
>>  the hal.dll problem is a simple fix in grub.conf; and
>>  that the fc5 repair disk will re-install grub for me.

THen there's bad news. After all is said and done, hal.dll is a Winblows file, not a file that can be repaired by anything with Linux.

However, you might be able to copy the hal.dll file directly from your installation CD.

BUT, there's more options....and this is more Windows support oriented.

1. Boot off your Windows CD and enter recovery console mode.
2. Use the following commands: fixboot <enter> fixmbr <enter>
3. Boot back into your windows cd and start setup. At your first chance to "repair" windows, skip it and act like you're doing a new installation. Windows will now search for other windows installations...you can now select to REPAIR the previous installation.
4. Go through that repair process and all should be booting fine. (If you did this the first time through, your applications and settings should have been fine. This repair option will only delete the windows files and then re-copy them from the cdrom.)

I hope this helps. Do note that running fixboot and fixmbr will erase the Linux boot loader. You will need to reconfigure grub to get it back to how it was. (Best to just go through the Linux install again if you want the grub loader.)


Sincerely,

Jason Spatafore