Hal.dll is Corrupt or missing

Recently I was working on my computer and everything seemed fine. I wanted to restart my computer but after it shut down and started up again I got an error message that said that SystemRoot Hal.dll is corrupt or missing. Unable to start.
I called up Dell support and they said they could tell me how to reinstall Windows XP but I would loose everything on my computer.
I have had this computer for a year now so I have all my pictures from trips and files on and I really don't want to loose. Is their any possible way that I could just get this file off the XP disk that came off my computer or any other way that I could solve this problem without loosing anything¿
Thanks for all help.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314477

 

Thanks. I'll try that. I had already looked in microsoft support but obviously I didn't do too great a job

 

I've always had success with Method 2. Let me know if you can't fix it.

 

Thank you very much. Ièm trying to set up my printer so I can have the instructions when I do it.

 

Let us know how everything works out!

 

Just a Tip for Future. Save all you data in a folder in your HDD rather than the My Documents. If you save it in HDD next time some thing of this kind or any other problem happens you can atleast do a Parelle Install !