Hi,
I just had the "can't find System32\hal.dll file" in my Win XP laptop. It appears I also had a bad boot.ini problem too.

I tried many of the fixes on the internet (trying to use recovery console, but I couldn't get past the administrator password thing), but none of them worked.

I really needed the data on the harddrive so I didn't want to do a format/re-install of the drive, so I bought a USB harddrive enclosure---put the windows unaccessable harddrive in it and VIOLA', I'm able to get at my data.

So now that I've got all my data secure and safe, I'm ready to put the same harddrive back into my laptop and try and get Windows up and running again.

Is there a way I can fix the boot.ini or system32\hal.dll problem with the bad harddrive. Presently, I've got the 'bad harddrive" connected via USB as an external drive to a 'good working' desktop. Can I fix it somehow by running some apps that can fix it this way? Or just downloading some files and replacing the corrupt ones with good ones?

Thanks for your help!