HAL.DLL Problem

Hi all,

A friend of mine is receiving the message "Windows root>\system32\hal.dll is corrupt or missing". I suggested that he recover the file using his XP cd, although when he gets to the recovery screen it prompts him for a "windows automated system recovery disc". Unfortunately, he does not have this disc, and I was just wondering if there was any other way of recovering the file without reformatting the drive.

Thanks

 

Greetings, mdteK.

If you can get to a command prompt, you might try running chkdsk /r - it sometimes cleans up HAL issues.

The steps for creating an ASR disk are here.

 

Thanks for the replies. As soon as he starts the computer he is being brought to the screen which notifies him that hal.dll is missing or corrupt. He's unable to start in safe mode and can't seem to do anything from here. Is there any way to get to cmd prompt on start up?

 

Most HAL.dll issues that I have run across have been to do with the boot.ini file having issues. This is one of the trouble shooting points referred to in the link provided by plodr.

To edit that file, I usually use BiNG or boot from a Linux Live cd.

Good Luck

 

So I've taken him through the step-by-step instructions and unfortunately we get stuck.
Step 1: Restarting the PC did not work... prior to windows starting up he receives a "Windows Cannot Start... missing or corrupt HAL.DLL" message.
Step 2: The selected drive is his primary and only hard drive.
Step 3: He selects the option to start from cmd prompt although receives the same message.
Step 4: This seems like the option most likely to work, although for some reason when booting from his XP CD he doesn't get the option to enter the recovery console. Instead, he can only install xp or exit set-up.
Step 5: Cannot enter recovery console as stated in step 4.
Step 6: Cannot enter recovery console as stated in step 4.
Step 7: Cannot enter recovery console as stated in step 4.
Step 8: Of course, repair is an option although if there is a way to access recovery console prior to resorting to this final option it would be preferred.

So, why isn't he receiving an option to enter recovery console? How can he enter recovery console since this is the case?

 

Agreed: from that environment, you can also start salvaging data, just in case.

 

Sorry for the double post.

I like #8 in plodr's link: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/instxprepair1.htm - if the Linux option doesn't work, that would be my next step.

 

Alright, so the problem is definitely stemming from the boot.ini. I had a chance to check out his laptop and prior to the hal.dll message being delivered there is a very prompt "Invalid BOOT.INI. Booting from c:/windows/" message delivered. Now, with the steps to repair this posted above you'd think it'd be fairly easy, although there is another problem.

The problem is his XP disc goes directly to the select partition portion of the format. It gives him no option to enter recovery console. Is there a reason for this? How can I enter the recovery console?

 

Problem solved! I simply found an xp recovery console iso online, downloaded it and burned the image. He used that to repair the boot.ini, which was the root of the problem.

 

Good job, mdtek - thanks for the feedback. :major