Unable to create file hal.dll

[Guest]

I was trying to get rid of the "invalid boot.ini, booting from windows"
message, and didn't RTFM quite closely enough, and just hit enter at the two
prompts. So now I'm stuck with the infamous 'hal.dll missing or corrupt"
message.

1 tried attrib -h-r-s , etc- bootcfg /rebuild, bootfix, etc- didn't seem to
have any effect, now I have 8 entries in the boot list, none work. Can't seem
to delete them.

2 tried "expand j:\i386 C:\windows\system32\hal.dll" and I get the message
"unable to create file hal.dll. ( yes, J is the CD drive)

3 I don't see boot.ini in my c:windows directory after rebuilding, etc

4 hal.dll does show up in C:windows\system32\, but as a two year old file

5 seems like I'm spinning my wheels- is it time to nuke it all and pave
over, or is there hope? If I do reinstall, do I need to reformat the drive,
or can I get away with XP upgrading itself?

TIA for the help

Greg
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Admiral Q]

item 1, what are you removing permissions from?

item 2, you can't just expand "hal.dl_" off the CD, it is built dynamically
when windows is installed as it is tailored to ACPI, Non-ACPI, Single
Processor, Multiprocessor, etc...

item 3, the "boot.ini" file resides in the "root" of the "system" drive,
environment variable %systemdrive%

item 4, most likely the correct one, did you install XP about 2 years ago?

item 5, try putting the XP CD in the drive, and booting from it and enter
the "recovery console" instead of reinstalling or repairing. Once in the
recovery console, rename the boot.ini to boot.old, then type in fixboot - it
should create a new one for you with the correct arcpath, might as well do a
fixmbr while your are at it to be sure the Master Boot Record is ok. Exit
and see if windows will boot. If this fails, you can always do the latter
in your message and do a "repair install" on XP itself, be sure to apply all
your hotfixes and any service packs.

--
Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your service!
"Google is your Friend!"
www.google.com

***********************************************

 

[Guest]

Well, I cut to the chase and did a Repair Install of Windows XP Pro. As soon
as the CD came out for the restart, I got the same "hal.dll is missing or
corrupt" message. I tried re- installing Xp again, same results. I have to be
missing something here, still unable to boot. TIA again.

 

[Guest]

A followup here- using "systemroot in the recovery console doesn't seem to
get me any where, nor does "dir systemroot" or "chdir systemroot" If I can't
find it....?

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the help, problem solved.

item 1, what are you removing permissions from?

item 2, you can't just expand "hal.dl_" off the CD, it is built dynamically
when windows is installed as it is tailored to ACPI, Non-ACPI, Single
Processor, Multiprocessor, etc...

item 3, the "boot.ini" file resides in the "root" of the "system" drive,
environment variable %systemdrive%

item 4, most likely the correct one, did you install XP about 2 years ago?

item 5, try putting the XP CD in the drive, and booting from it and enter
the "recovery console" instead of reinstalling or repairing. Once in the
recovery console, rename the boot.ini to boot.old, then type in fixboot - it
should create a new one for you with the correct arcpath, might as well do a
fixmbr while your are at it to be sure the Master Boot Record is ok. Exit
and see if windows will boot. If this fails, you can always do the latter
in your message and do a "repair install" on XP itself, be sure to apply all
your hotfixes and any service packs.

--
Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your service!
"Google is your Friend!"
www.google.com

***********************************************