Hal.dll file corrupt...HELP!!!!

[Juke99]

Out of the blue...my desk top computer at home stopped working...a message that the hal.dll file is either corrupt or missing came up...

I tried pressing F8 at start up in order to go back to the last known good configuration...it didn't work..

I tried booting from my XP CD...going to the recovery console...selecting repair..and running bootcfg /rebuild...that returned a message that there was an error, "Failed to successfully scan disks for windows installations. This error may be caused by a corrupt file system, which would prevent bootcfg from successfully scanning. Use chkdsk to detect any disk errors."

Soooo, I ran chkdsk....and got a result saying that the volume appears to be in good condition and was not checked. Use /p if you want to check the volume anyway.

Which I did.

It gave some kilobyte reading and returned me to

C:\Windows>

So I am lost...

Any ideas?

 

[Kendo]

Not sure if this is what you did or not, but try taking a look here

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184

 

[Juke99]

Not sure if this is what you did or not, but try taking a look here

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184

Thanks....been down that road unfortunately...I get the Error message I listed above when I do this.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Sounds like a virus. Do you have a virus boot/recovery disk?

 

[Juke99]

Sounds like a virus. Do you have a virus boot/recovery disk?

I don't think it's a virus...It seems to be a problem that occurs on occasion...I have the original XP CD...

any ideas of what I can purchase...a Norton Utility disk perhaps?

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Do you have a Digital Camera....if so this area may help...

http://www.driverforum.com/other3/4173.html

Now I am just going to give you some links that may help...

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forum/printview.php?t=384&start=0

http://amazingtechs.com/index.php?showtopic=11993


http://forums.invisionpower.com/lofiversion/index.php/t49234.html

This is a very good site....You will have to sign up, I have used this site before and it helped out...I think it is still free.

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20907873.html



Hope one of those help...if you have the digital camera try the very first link...if not try the last link...it is a forum and has came in very handy for me before.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Do you have a Digital Camera....if so this area may help...

http://www.driverforum.com/other3/4173.html

Now I am just going to give you some links that may help...

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forum/printview.php?t=384&start=0

http://amazingtechs.com/index.php?showtopic=11993


http://forums.invisionpower.com/lofiversion/index.php/t49234.html

This is a very good site....You will have to sign up, I have used this site before and it helped out...I think it is still free.

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20907873.html



Hope one of those help...if you have the digital camera try the very first link...if not try the last link...it is a forum and has came in very handy for me before.

Let me guess......a google search

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Let me guess......a google search

Yes...except for the last one...I have used that last site on occasion.

Another good place for missing .DLLs or drivers is

www.driversguide.com

Has about all the drivers you need for different things.

 

[trickblue]

Yes...except for the last one...I have used that last site on occasion.

Another good place for missing .DLLs or drivers is

www.driversguide.com

Has about all the drivers you need for different things.

BTW... they have a universal username and password on that site...

Login: drivers
Password: all

 

[Juke99]

OK...so here's a dumb quetion..

Windows will not boot...I get the C prompt instead, ya know, C:\>

The hal.dll file is in the system 32 folder...

How do I copy a NEW hal.dll file to the system 32 folder from the C prompt I am getting?

This truly sucks.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

OK...so here's a dumb quetion..

Windows will not boot...I get the C prompt instead, ya know, C:\>

The hal.dll file is in the system 32 folder...

How do I copy a NEW hal.dll file to the system 32 folder from the C prompt I am getting?

This truly sucks.

Do you have stuff on this computer that you can NOT lose?

You could format the harddrive and start from scratch.

IF NOT....

You should be able to reload windows XP from your disk....I can not remember the options but it will ask you two things....one of them will just load windows over the existing windows...that is the one you want. This should just reload any missing or corrupt files on your computer...it should leave all of the other data on the computer so you should not lose anything.

Do not even bother with all of that other repair console because most of the time it is just a pain in butt.

You do NOT want the one where it asks you if you want to set up a seperate installation.


Hope that works for you.

 

[Juke99]

Do you have stuff on this computer that you can NOT lose?

You could format the harddrive and start from scratch.

IF NOT....

You should be able to reload windows XP from your disk....I can not remember the options but it will ask you two things....one of them will just load windows over the existing windows...that is the one you want. This should just reload any missing or corrupt files on your computer...it should leave all of the other data on the computer so you should not lose anything.

Do not even bother with all of that other repair console because most of the time it is just a pain in butt.

You do NOT want the one where it asks you if you want to set up a seperate installation.


Hope that works for you.

I have a ton of stuff for my Database business that I cant lose...some of it was backed up...but the last week or so, wasn't.

So I really can't afford to lose it all..plus it's just a pain in the butt to reinstall everything...

I'll give your idea a shot but it doesn't seem to be an option when I reboot from the XP CD that came with the computer.

 

[Juke99]

Do you have stuff on this computer that you can NOT lose?

You could format the harddrive and start from scratch.

IF NOT....

You should be able to reload windows XP from your disk....I can not remember the options but it will ask you two things....one of them will just load windows over the existing windows...that is the one you want. This should just reload any missing or corrupt files on your computer...it should leave all of the other data on the computer so you should not lose anything.

Do not even bother with all of that other repair console because most of the time it is just a pain in butt.

You do NOT want the one where it asks you if you want to set up a seperate installation.


Hope that works for you.

Thanks BP....of course, XP Home doesn't give an option to write over the old...it only gives an option to create a partition in the unpartitioned space...delete a partition ro to set up Windows XP, which I assume is a complete reinstall...

 

[Kendo]

I used to work for Microsoft support years ago and we used to deal with problems like this all the time. Too bad I don't remember everything that I learned during my tenure there. There was a way that you could extract files directly off of the install disk (Windows 98) and copy them to the hard drive location of your choice using Dos commands. Not sure whether this works with XP. Sometimes this would fix the problem however most of the time the problem lied elsewhere. If you need the information on the computer right away I would call microsoft support. If you have some time I would play with finding a copy of the hal.dll file and copying it to the system32 folder. Check out www.support.microsoft.com and you should be able to figure out how to extract and copy files from the installation disk. You could also try to copy a hal.dll file from another computer to a floppy and then copy it to the hard drive using something like > Copy A:Hal.dll C:\Windows\System32. Doubt that this would fix the problem but it might be worth a try. Good luck to you

 

[Juke99]

I used to work for Microsoft support years ago and we used to deal with problems like this all the time. Too bad I don't remember everything that I learned during my tenure there. There was a way that you could extract files directly off of the install disk (Windows 98) and copy them to the hard drive location of your choice using Dos commands. Not sure whether this works with XP. Sometimes this would fix the problem however most of the time the problem lied elsewhere. If you need the information on the computer right away I would call microsoft support. If you have some time I would play with finding a copy of the hal.dll file and copying it to the system32 folder. Check out www.support.microsoft.com and you should be able to figure out how to extract and copy files from the installation disk. You could also try to copy a hal.dll file from another computer to a floppy and then copy it to the hard drive using something like > Copy A:Hal.dll C:\Windows\System32. Doubt that this would fix the problem but it might be worth a try. Good luck to you

Thanks Kendo...the support at Dell has been awful....basically people reading a book back to me...

I will try your suggestion...

In the meantime, it would be great if you were able to play around with a few ideas....

Thanks again.