Acer Aspire One

Hello, I have been charged with trying to resurrect a dying Acer Aspire One netbook. This is what I get after the POST:
"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."

I try to run Acer Recovery management and it gets through half of the restore and then shuts off. I think the recovery partition is corrupted, but how can I re-install it with no CD drive? I have worked on many computers and have done some programming, but this has got me stumped. The computer was made in 2009, if that helps. Reading other threads, this hardware has a history of malfunctioning. Thanks for your help.

 

Hi my friend , you can remove your hdd hooking up to another pc showing if hdd is recognized

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFnIVZn3Wqk


you can borrow an Operating cd from a friend to try these steps

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/missinghaldll.htm :wave

 

So basically, my options are to either get a new hard drive or try to boot from an external optical drive...thank you for the response.

 

How can I get the recovery disks? I contacted Acer and they said they couldn't send me the disks because I was in the U.S. They were in the UK.

 

This is Acer USA's website. For your netbook, they will have a bootable USB drive with the recovery software.
https://store.acer.com/store?Action=DisplayDataValidationServicePage&Locale=en_US&SiteID=acerna

 

The website says there is no RCD available for Serial Number#LUS670B034938442511601.
Aspire One D250-1151

What now?

 

If you know someone who has a Windows XP Home Edition OEM OS CD, you can use it with your product key off the COA sticker on the bottom of the laptop.

You could purchase a new XP Home disc off eBay or another seller if you prefer:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trk...indows+xp+home+edition&_sacat=18793&_from=R40

...or you could move up to Windows 7. I have a D257(similar specs) running Windows 7 Home with the Classic theme. I did bump up to 2GB RAM but 1 GB was serviceable.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trk...windows&_nkw=windows+7&_sacat=18793&_from=R40

You could try Linux:
I recommend Linux Mint with the XFCE desktop. You can run the OS from a CD or USB stick instead of installing if you would like to test drive the OS first. Also, it's free.
http://www.linuxmint.com/index.php

You can buy an external DVD drive or use Universal USB Installer to make a bootable USB stick using the OS disc of your choice.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/universal_usb_installer.html

 

I have XP Home Recovery Discs from a 2004 Gateway 3250s; would these work or are they too old?

 

They may have drivers incompatible with your Acer and there's the licensing issue as they are manufacturer recovery discs for a different PC. What I linked to were installation discs from Microsoft if you did not know anyone with a Microsoft XP Home installation disc already.

 

A friend had restore discs from a 2009 Acer Desktop and I tried those...now I get a "BOOTMGR is missing" error message. I think I need a new hard drive...