That, most likely won't solve the problem. The problem is sometimes caused
by an invalid entry in the boot.ini file, often caused by the user making
changes to partitions, possibly with incompatible software or software
versions of partitioning utilities or making changes that corrupt the
boot.ini file. Hence, even if you got the Hal.dll and copied it to the
proper location, you would still have the problem.
HAL is Microsoft's abbreviation for the Hardware Abstraction Layer, the
technology and drivers that let the Windows NT, 2000, and XP operating
systems communicate with your PC's hardware. HAL is one of several
features--along with the NT file system (NTFS) that replaced the much less
secure MS-DOS--that make NT-based operating systems more secure and reliable
than Windows 95, 98, and Me.
HAL prevents applications from directly accessing your PC's system memory,
CPU, or hardware devices (such as video and sound cards)--a method that can
prevent many device conflicts and crashes. Unfortunately, HAL sometimes also
slows or stops DOS games and programs, which need to load their own memory
managers or control hardware directly for better performance.
Hence, if you have applications or drivers installed on your system that are
not compatible with HAL, you will continue to have this problem as you
already have had in the past.
Without the proper tools, you cannot resolve this without using your
recovery CD. XP CDs give you access to the Recovery Console and the Repair
Install feature, both of which may be able to resolve this without loss of
data. You might be able to resolve this if you can get into Safe Mode and
fix the boot.ini file. I offer this as a last hope without using the
Recovery CD. However, if it doesn't work, your only other choice would be
to acquire an actual XP CD and frankly, that's your best choice as those
tools come in handy for fixing other problems as well. Nonetheless, boot
the system, start tapping F8, when the menu appears and select Safe Mode.
When you enter Safe Mode, go to Start, type msconfig in the run box and
press enter, go to the boot.ini tab and click "Check all boot paths," reboot
and see if that resolves the issue.
