[RESOLVED] missing or corrupted hal.dll

[terryZ]

i'm not at work currently, but a co-worker tried to start my xp pc and got the error that the "hal.dll" file is either missing or corrupted.

i thought i'd arm myself before i arrive tomorrow and so am asking for advice here.

it's a dell machine and i don't think there is a physical disc with xp on it. just a restore from the D partition.

there IS a copy of norton's go-back running on that pc.

all the fixes i see assume you're already running windows but in this case, the error occurs on start-up.

any ideas? thanks in advance,

terry

[SpywareDr]

1. Boot from a XP Setup CD and enter the Recovery Console.
2. Type the following four commands, pressing [Enter] after each:
   1. attrib -r -s -h c:\boot.ini
   2. del c:\boot.ini
   3. bootcfg /rebuild
   4. fixboot
3. That's all there is to it. Remove the XP CD and reboot.

[Midknyte]

I would run a hard drive diagnostic first.
If the drive fails, get as much data off as you can and then replace the drive.
If the drive passes, you can try doing software repairs.

[terryZ]

1. Boot from a XP Setup CD and enter the Recovery Console.
2. Type the following four commands, pressing [Enter] after each:
   1. attrib -r -s -h c:\boot.ini
   2. del c:\boot.ini
   3. bootcfg /rebuild
   4. fixboot
3. That's all there is to it. Remove the XP CD and reboot.

as i said, i'm not at work and am not sure the pc (it's a dell) came with a setup cd. if it did, how do i enter the recovery console?

[Midknyte]

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixthe...s/rconsole.htm

[terryZ]

i went to: http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/download.html.

and followed the "download ultimate boot cd" link on the last line.

and then downloaded the "Ultimate Boot CD.exe" file.

now what?

just so you know, i'm at home on my vista machine. was in the ER sunday night and in hospital yesterday. too tired to go to work. but i thought i could sit at my machine and get as much done as i can here rather than trying to find a free machine at work to do all this.

thanks.

ps> i guess i'm wondering what this EXE file will do. if it creates a bootable CD on my vista machine, wont that be unusable on that other XP machine?

[SpywareDr]

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and get the ISO file from one of the "Mirror Sites". (Click the little red down arrow icon to the left of "PC Babble" for example).

[terryZ]

now i've downloaded "gimp_freely_d157195.exe".

am i supposed to RUN these files? i've done things like this before and ended up with hijacked browser, etc.

i am NOT an IT professional. just an office manager whose stuck with this pc job.

[SpywareDr]

Try this:

1. Insert a blank CD in your CD Rom drive.
   
   
2. Download IsoBurner-Setup.exe from this page.
   
   
3. Double-click that file to install it, and then let it run the program when installed.
   
   
4. At the top of the ISO-burner program, on the right, click the button with "..." on it, browse to the UBCD ISO file you downloaded earlier and click it.
   
   
5. Now click the Burn button.
   
   
6. When the program is done burning the CD, it should pop out the CD for you.
   
   
7. Re-insert the CD and boot your computer from it.

[terryZ]

successfully got your steps 1-7 done.

when it boots from the CD i get the DOS-looking page on http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/download.html.

there is no "recovery console" option. should i be following the "UBCD FreeDOS R1.50" option?

if so, and still follow your earlier commands ...

attrib -r -s -h c:\boot.ini
del c:\boot.ini
bootcfg /rebuild
fixboot

another question ... how does this whole process know what windows system i'm trying to repair?

thanks again,

[Midknyte]

UBCD5 is in my signature. That is for diagnostics, not the Windows recovery. Run the hard drive manufacturer's diags that match your brand of hard drive.

You will still need a Windows XP disc to run the recovery console.

[SpywareDr]

Here's some examples of what Dell's Windows XP Home edition with SP3 (Service Pack 3) CD looks like, and XP Professional.

This doesn't mean it has to be from Dell though. As long as it's a Windows XP Setup CD of the same version as yours, ("Home" or "Pro", with no SP or SP 1, 2 or 3), it should work.

[terryZ]

so after all this i STILL need a physical windows XP installation disc?

i don't have one.

i have a D partition that i can boot to to completely reinstall XP and thereby wipe all my software and data. this is what i'm trying to avoid.

[terryZ]

i'm totally confused now.

why was i directed to create this UBCD?

going back to my post, i'm trying repair or re-create the HAL.DLL file that prevents my XP machine from booting up.

[dneilson]

Re-read Post #11,