corrupted hal.dll

[mstarhawk]

I have a Toshiba notebook, satellite 1405 which came
installed with xp Home.
I few months ago I bought and installed an upgrade to XP
Pro,
The day before yesterday I got the message that windows
could not start because the file \system32\hal.dll is
missing or corrupt.
I have tried putting the XP Pro disk in the drive and
booting and booting from safe mode but whatever I do I
keep getting this hal.dll message.
How do I get to boot my computer so I can copy a new
hal.dll file in?
IF I need to reinstall XP Pro is that going to be a
problem since my code has already been set at Microsoft?
Thanks,
(e-mail address removed)

 

[t.cruise]

Previously Posted by Alex Nichol MS MVP:

That indicates that there is corruption of the boot.ini file: That
tells the boot where to look for windows components, and it is looking
in the wrong place. Hal.dll just happens to be the first file it looks
for.

Set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard Disk. Boot the XP CD and, instead
of Setup, take the immediate R for Repair. Assume any password
requested is blank, and TAB over.
Give:
ATTRIB -H -R -S C:\Boot.ini
DEL C:\Boot.ini
(thus deleting the old one)
BootCfg /Rebuild

 

[S.Sengupta]

More information and a workaround here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_h.htm#xp_hall.dll

regards,
ssg MS-MVP
pronetworks.org

 

[Plato]

keep getting this hal.dll message.
How do I get to boot my computer so I can copy a new
hal.dll file in?

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootlist/139.htm#3

 

[Alex Nichol]

The day before yesterday I got the message that windows
could not start because the file \system32\hal.dll is
missing or corrupt.
I have tried putting the XP Pro disk in the drive and
booting and booting from safe mode but whatever I do I
keep getting this hal.dll message.
How do I get to boot my computer so I

That message is rather misleading. It happens because the boot.ini file
that tells the boot where to look for 'Windows' is damaged, so it is
looking for files in the wrong place - hal.dll just happens to be the
first one it looks for.

Provided you have a 'proper' CD of the system, and not just a restore
one that puts back ex-factory state:

Set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard Disk. Boot the XP CD and, instead
of Setup, take the immediate R for Repair. Assume any password
requested is blank, and TAB over.

Use
Attrib -H -R -S C:\boot,ini
DEL C:\boot.ini
to delete the bad one
BootCfg /Rebuild

to search for Windows installations and make a new one