Missing/corrupt hal.dl; boot.ini trouble?

[Dan]

I just installed XP pro on the 1st partition of my 2nd sata disk. XP home
is on the 1st partition of my 1st sata disk. All seemed to go well, but
while I can still get into xp home, I get the error "missing or corrupt
hal.dll file. replace file" when attempting to go to the new xp pro. I've
read this can be trouble w/boot.ini. My boot.ini reads:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /FASTDETECT /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /PAE

Interestingly, the disk xp pro is installed on is listed as disk 2 in
diskmgmt.msc, but I don't see a TWO anywhere in the boot.ini line
"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect" above. Might this be the
problem, if so, which of the numbers should be a 2?

I know I can fix this with repair console, but if I can just edit boot.ini
&save the time & possibility of screwing up getting into xp home (main os at
the moment) I would prefer to.

Tried simply copying hal.dl from the install disk (no hal.dll exists there)
into windows/system 32 in the xp pro install, changing its name to hal.dll,
as I suspected this did not work ;-/

Thanks.

Fred

 

[John John]

Use the msconfig utility and have it check the boot paths to see if it
can find incorrect entries. rdisk numbers start at 0 (zero), so rdisk 1
should correspond to the second hard disk. If the disk is not on the
second SATA controller then the rdisk value may be incorrect. You can
boot to the Recovery Console and use the bootcfg utility to rebuild
the boot.ini file and correct the ARC paths. While in the Recovery
Console using the MAP ARC command will shed some light on the ARC
paths of the hard disks or devices.

John

 

[Peter Foldes]

See the link below

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm

 

[rooster]

Dan;

Your boot.ini is fine. Kelly Theriot's Korner tip probably will give you
traction.

The missing or corrupt hal.dll error message is a PITA for a lot of
people; but it really doesn't signify anything important. As long as you
can boot into XP, my suggestion is to forget about it. I have the same
situation and it is transparent/inconsequential as far as any running
processes or boot sequencing is concerned. It's purported
absence/corruption does not affect anything.

Some XP-Home OEMs, e.g. "eMachines" T series, do not have the "Recovery
Console", nor is this .dll file available from the Restore DVD's,
besides; there is no way to access the Directory unless you can boot in
from outside of Windows.

With XP-Pro, you are in a much better position since you do have the
option to download Q310994 from MS Downloads and run it from the CD. The
problem with XP-Home is that this option is only available from a floppy
.... which most modern PCs don't have one of which.

rooster
boundary bay, bc

 

[Dan]

Thanks for the replies on this. I re-formatted the partition & reloaded,
seems fine now. Not sure what the trouble was. I had just installed 2 new
Seagate satas & had run the seagate utility in the link Kelly Korner link,
but I had removed the utility prior to installation. Weird.

Dan