HAL.DLL missing or corrupt - reinstall does not solve the problem

[Margo Guda]

I'm getting the HAL.DLL missing or corrupt error message, and ran the
recovery console to reinstall it from my setup CD. That seemed to help
for one session, but it now seems every time I reboot the machine, if I
don't leave the setup CD in the drive, windows will not boot. It will
either give me the HAL.DLL missing error message, or hang on the boot
screen (before I get to see the login icons).
It is as if every time I shut down, the hal.dll file gets corrupted
somehow. I ran several disk checks, for errors, spyware, or virus, and
did not find anything. What can be the matter, and how do I resolve this
issue?

Thanks,

 

[Margo Guda]

I did search - and read what I found. The link you referred me to does
NOT solve my problem. That is why I am asking.
And I ask again. Another thing I noticed in my device manager (when I
got my system back up again after again expanding hal.dll from the
driver.cab archive) is that under computer there are two entries, both
with the same hal driver. Is this as it should be? One is ACPI
uniprocessor and the other is standard pc. Since I had not looked there
before I don't know what it was before I started having these problems.
I did notice also that the version of hal.dll I expanded from the
archive is different than what was there before. Not sure what this
means, but it had been there a while and the computer worked fine, until
now.

 

[Malke]

I did search - and read what I found. The link you referred me to does
NOT solve my problem. That is why I am asking.
And I ask again. Another thing I noticed in my device manager (when I
got my system back up again after again expanding hal.dll from the
driver.cab archive) is that under computer there are two entries, both
with the same hal driver. Is this as it should be? One is ACPI
uniprocessor and the other is standard pc. Since I had not looked there
before I don't know what it was before I started having these problems.
I did notice also that the version of hal.dll I expanded from the
archive is different than what was there before. Not sure what this
means, but it had been there a while and the computer worked fine, until
now.

The "hal.dll is missing" error does *not* mean you reinstall hal.dll and
that's why the "fix" didn't work. The problem is with your boot.ini. See
this information from the late, great MVP Alex Nichol:

WINDOWS COULD NOT FIND START BECAUSE THE FOLLOWING FILE IS MISSING OR
CORRUPT
WINDOWS ROOT>\SYSTEM32\hal.dll

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. 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.

Malke

 

[Margo Guda]

He (or another expert, I forget now where I read this) also said that
sometimes the problem can actually *BE* with hal.dll being corrupt. I
tried the boot.ini fix but it did not help either. And I checked the
boot.ini contents (such as what drive and partition it points to, and
what the codes mean) and they are correct. Still, it did not help to
change the boot.ini file (I tried).

Margo.
(logged into windows after booting with the setup cd in the drive and
hal.dll re-expanded once again).

 

[Anna]

(Margo's problem is that she's getting the infamous "hal.dll is missing"
message and the system will not boot. She's tried the "usual fixes", and has
determined that her system is malware free, but no go...)

Margo:
I assume I've correctly stated the problem which presumably still exists. If
so, let me make the following suggestion. But before doing so, we'll assume
that there's no hardware problem involved here, particularly as it may
involve your boot HDD. In that connection, it may be advisable to download a
diagnostic utility from the manufacturer of your HDD (it's generally
available from the manufacturer's website) and check out the drive.

My suggestion is to run a Repair install of the XP operating system. I don't
know if you've ever undertaken this process before but it's a relatively
simple & straightforward operation and shouldn't cause you any undue anxiety
or problems. The process is roughly akin to making a fresh install of the
OS, but in nearly every case your existing programs & user-created data
would be retained. Notice I said "nearly". While it would be a rather rare
situation where data would be lost or corrupted as a result of the Repair
install, and as unlikely as it may be, it *could* happen.

So if there are any programs and/or other data on your present drive that
are absolutely crucial to you and you could not tolerate its loss, then I
would strongly suggest that before undertaking the Repair install you first
either make a clone of your existing HDD (using a disk imaging program) or
use some other means to copy whatever data you want to some other media.

I really don't want to overemphasize the possible negatives in this
situation because in the overwhelming amount of cases where a Repair install
is undertaken there's no problem with loss or corruption of data occurring.

In virtually every case, the only negative to running a Repair install is
that it will fail to correct the problem. So all you've done is waste some
time. Again, the possible loss or corruption of data is a very rare event
even when the Repair install does fail. But if at all possible, it would be
wise as I've previously indicated to back up your important/crucial data
either through the disk cloning process or installing the problem HDD as a
secondary drive in another bootable machine and accessing its contents that
way - assuming those are viable options (which of course they may not be).
On the other hand since you're obviously able to post your messages to this
newsgroup I take it you have a working PC available to you.

Well, there is another downside even if the Repair install is successful.
You will need to download/install *all* the MS critical updates since SP2.
(I'm assuming that the Repair install you may be undertaking is with a XP
installation CD that contains SP2). And needless to say it's usually an
onerous task to download all the Critical Updates from MS especially if
you're using a dialup phone connection rather than broadband to connect to
the net.

There are a number of websites that contain step-by-step instructions for
undertaking a Repair install. Let me assure you that it's not a difficult
process and not terribly time-consuming. If you do a Google search on "XP
repair install", you'll be pointed to many of these sites. Here are a few...
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm#RI
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=138

Assuming the Repair install is successful, you should use your A-V program
to immediately check out your PC for any virus infestation.

Anyway, consider the above if you're still unable to resolve your problem
through other, simpler ways.
Anna

 

[Margo Guda]

Anna,

Thanks. Finally someone who really read what I wrote and comes up with
an answer I can do something with. Yes you are stating the problem
correctly, as far as I have been able to ascertain.
Before I follow your suggestion of the repair install, there is one
other idea I'm going to test, since I noticed it this morning when again
faced with the hal.dll error message.... I had my palm connected, via
USB, as usual. When I rebooted though, while the cable was still
connected to the USB port, I had removed the palm. So, I'm thinking this
problem may have something to do with the system detecting what's on the
USB ports, and it may have a problem with the palm (strange though it
may seem since I have booted up with the palm connected many many times
and it never caused problems.) So I will try this one again and if
that's not it, I will try the repair install. Anyway, thank you very
much for the note, I feel I'm finally out of the woods and somewhere
where knowledgeable people will actually talk to me.

Thanks,
Margo.

 

[Anna]

Anna,

Thanks. Finally someone who really read what I wrote and comes up with an
answer I can do something with. Yes you are stating the problem correctly,
as far as I have been able to ascertain.
Before I follow your suggestion of the repair install, there is one other
idea I'm going to test, since I noticed it this morning when again faced
with the hal.dll error message.... I had my palm connected, via USB, as
usual. When I rebooted though, while the cable was still connected to the
USB port, I had removed the palm. So, I'm thinking this problem may have
something to do with the system detecting what's on the USB ports, and it
may have a problem with the palm (strange though it may seem since I have
booted up with the palm connected many many times and it never caused
problems.) So I will try this one again and if that's not it, I will try
the repair install. Anyway, thank you very much for the note, I feel I'm
finally out of the woods and somewhere where knowledgeable people will
actually talk to me.

Thanks,
Margo.

Margo:
While we have run into problems involving a failure-to-boot scenario when a
USB device (primarily a USB external HDD) is connected (and powered up) to
the system upon bootup, I can't recall ever seeing a "hal.dll is missing"
message in that situation. In virtually every case disconnecting the USB
device *before* bootup & then reconnecting the device after bootup resolved
the problem. Having said that, we have long since concluded that where there
is any interaction between the XP OS & a USB device, *anything* is possible.
So give it a try.
Anna

 

[DandyDon]

Take a look here.
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=313