"<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll" is corrupt

Ok it all started one gloomy evening when i turned on my computer. first it started to boot off my hard drive when a black screen came up.

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 read all of the similar posts on Major Geeks and other websites. I tried every solution they threw at me with no avail. So i finally resorted to one of my last resorts which is preforming an in place re-install. But the weird thing is when i chose to install it, it said it was looking for a previous installation and it said there was none. I have crucial data on my drive so i don't want to reformat and lose everything. Please if you know anyway around this problem, let me know.

Thank you Major Geeks:major you've always been a great help,
Sdawg

 

You're trying to do a repair (press R, not the R at recovery console prompt. The one after that.) or install? Do you get a list of the partitions/drives?

 

im trying to do the install, but you know when it says its looking for already installed windows OS, it says there's none when in fact there should be Microsoft Windows XP Professional.

 

Do you have SCSI/RAID where you would need to load drivers for you hard disk controllers via F6?
Does it show your hard drive at least on the list? If not then most likely you do need those drivers. In other words, what do you get on this screen...

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/6219/partitionscreen.th.png

What is the make/model of your motherboard?

Once you get passed this step, I wouldn't do an install because it will ask you to format. Do a repair instead.

 

ok, all the drivers are installed
and by f6 you mean the bios then yes the hard drive is in the bios.
and the motherboard is... GIGABYTE EP43-UD3L

i am trying to to do a in place repair install... not a normal install because i would then have to reformat and i do NOT want to do that.

 

oh sorry your image didnt show up before i posted that reply, hold on one sec and ill find out.

 

ok so i went to boot off of my xp disk when this screen came up...

i have never seen it before, do you know what it is?

 

Yes, that's the F6 screen. It appears from http://www.gigabyte.us/Support/Motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ProductID=2995&ost=others#anchor_os that you dont need hard disk controller drivers.

 

haha, so now what?

 

Well that screen only shows up if you press F6. You can press enter and it will keep on going. Show me the screen with the drives/partitions.

 

I see you viewing the thread for a while now but no post. I'll be back later. Cant stay awake. Maybe someone else can help you in the meantime.

 

ok sorry it took so long, here ya go...

 

EDIT - ignore this, saw the earlier screens with no controllers showing and jumped the gun - looks like you can get it loaded without the drivers

Unfortunately not, it automatically shows if Setup can find no hard drives/controllers to install to.

sdawg27, you need to have the SATA/RAID controller drivers to hand on a floppy/USB stick or (preferably) slipstreamed into your install CD/DVD. Drivers should be here, you will likely only need the subfolder relating to your OS, probably only a few hundred kb and 3-4 files.

 

ok, so if i have them on a USB then what? how can i install them?

 

haha, its alright. got any suggestions though?

 

Just one thing to check, seeing that you have 2 identical HDD's in there.

Give it a few tries (you may need to hit a different Fkey, F11 or 12, whatever it takes to choose your boot device), ya never know - bedtime now, good luck

 

yes i have 2 identical 250GB sata drives

ok, i already tried that but i did it again anyway, i booted off both HDD's one failed (the one without OS... duh) and the other one took me back to...

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.

so back to the beginning

 

Ok, try skimming through the thread that came from, there must be something that's been missed.

 

i already skimmed/read through the whole thing, but will do again thanks for the help.

 

"I have crucial data on my drive so i don't want to reformat and lose everything."

Good you have 2 hard drives. Instead of going round and round you could have installed Windows on the 2nd hard drive by now. Just do that (without formatting) and recover your data then install again on the 1st hard drive but format.

You might want to rethink your partitioning strategy when reinstalling. XP does not need 250GB of space. Make a 10GB (or whatever you feel you need) partition then make separate partitions for your data and other stuff.

 

yeah i already thought about that i just wanted to save some time or more importantly find a solution.

 

ok update!

i installed XP on my second HDD then out of curiosity i copied my hal.dll file from my good OS and replaced the bad one, then i rebooted on the old OS and got this message...

Windows could not start because of an error in the software.
please report this problem as :
load needed DLLs for kernel.
Please contact you support person to report this problem.

so i looked this up online and there was a couple places saying it might have to do with the noskrnl application, so i thought what the heck, and i did the same thing i did with hal.dll. so after both of those were replaced i rebooted again and got the same message.

So, anyone got any info that might help?

 

I'm having the same problems, but I have lost my disc that came with computer, how can I get this file back?