Laptop won't start up

I have a Dell Inspirion with Windows XP

When I try to start up my laptop, it stalls on a black screen with the following message:

"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."


Any advice on how to resolve the situation?

Thank you!

 

Did you make any major changes to your computer just before this happened?

This may help: Missing Or Corrupt Hal.dll Error Resolution