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missing or corrupted hal.dll

Started by hayzie , Aug 11 2005 04:22 PM

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#1
hayzie
Posted 11 August 2005 - 04:22 PM

hayzie

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Hi everyone,

Recently 3 things happend to my PC.

1) I upgraded memory from 700MB to 1Gig.
2) I got warnings from Norton about a "Bloodhound 32" Virus, which it couldnt fix
3) I got messages saying I needed to update but I needed to insert the Win Xp CD, as the file was "missing"

I think 2 has caused my problem. I am having the exact same problem as this guy here (I would have posted in that thread but it says make your own threads for your own questions). When I turn on my Dell (also a 4550), it goes to boot up, gives me a Plug and Play error (I press F1 to continue) and then I get the Windows root \system\hal.dll is missing, and can't boot up any farther.

I dont have the Dell restore CD that came with my PC (I lost it when I left University), I've still got my correct user validation code for Win Xp tho (thats on the side of my PC). It tried to boot off my Dad's Dell restore CD, but that is an XP pro cd for a dell 8200 and doesnt boot up. I could try using my sisters Dell restore XP cd as that is a 4700 and for XP Home so hopefully will work.

Does anyone have any tips on what I should do, and if I'll be able to restore the system?

Any help would be great, thanks in advance.
:tazz:
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#2
darth_ash
Posted 11 August 2005 - 04:24 PM

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For missing corrupt hal.dll, follow the steps below:
  • In ur BIOS set CD-ROM has 1st Boot Device.
  • Insert XP Setup CD, to boot from CD.
  • After the intial loading of drivers is over, on the Welcome to Setup Screen with 3 options; Press R key, to "Repair XP installtion using Recovery Console".
  • On the next screen you will be asked to choose your Windows installtion, choose the one that is causing the problem by typing the number beside it.
  • You will be prompted for Adminstrator account's password. Press Enter if the password was blank.
  • Type the following commands, and press enter after each one:
    • Attrib -H -R -S C:\Boot.ini
      (where C: is the partition where XP was installed)
    • DEL C:\Boot.ini
    • BootCfg /Rebuild
    • Fixboot
  • Reboot ur PC

Edited by darth_ash, 01 September 2005 - 02:40 PM.

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#3
hayzie
Posted 13 August 2005 - 01:44 PM

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Hi, thanks very much for the advice, it was going ok, but I got an error on the BootCfg /Rebuild command. It said:-

Scanning all disks for Windows Installations,
Please wait, since this may take a while

Error failed to sucessfully scan disks for Windows Installations.
This error may be caused by a corrupt file system,
which would prevent Bootcfg from sucessfully scanning

Use chkdsk to check for any errors

So I ran CHKDSK and then CHKDSK /P when doing that I got 3 instances of
Performing additional checking or recovery

I then tried doing the BootCfg /Rebuild command again but got the same error.

Have you got any ideas how I can sort this problem out ?

Any help would be truely great.

:tazz:
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#4
darth_ash
Posted 13 August 2005 - 02:34 PM

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Use the same steps to get into Recovery Console as suggested previously.
I'll give two more ways to recover from this error from the Recovery Console, use any one of them.
Use Method1 only if u downloaded SP2 and installed it.
Use Method2 if u have installed SP2 from CD and u have the CD; or if u have'nt installed SP2 at all.

Method1:
Type the following comamds:
cd\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386
copy hal.dll c:\Windows\System32.

Method2:
Type the following comamd:
expand x:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32\hal.dll.
(where x: the drive-leeter of ur CD-ROM drive and c: is the partition where XP was installed).
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#5
jammamma
Posted 13 August 2005 - 03:00 PM

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I just recieved the missing or corrupt hal.dll file.
Unfortuntatley, I do not have the XP cd-roms. I do, however, have access to another computer with XP- can copy the necessary boot cd files from this other XP computer or somewhere else? If I use the boot CD (whereever I can get it from), will I lose all the stuff on my harddrive?
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#6
darth_ash
Posted 13 August 2005 - 03:18 PM

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jammamma,
If u do have another PC.
Download hal.dll from link.
Remove the hard-disk from the spoilt PC, make it a slave on the working PC. Extract the hal.dll from the downloaded zip file to x:\windows\system32.
(where x: is the drive letter where windows was installed on the slave disk).


Note: Donot copy hal.dll from the system32 folder of ur working XP, as it is different from the spoilt PC's because of different hardware.
That is why, I asked u to download a fresh copy.

Edited by darth_ash, 13 August 2005 - 03:19 PM.

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#7
aliengreen
Posted 28 August 2005 - 11:25 AM

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Help!
I managed to trip up my friend's pc's hardware and got the "missing hal.dll" error message as a result as well. The suggested recovery console solution didd't work for me (rebuilding the boot.ini thru bootcfg). I really need to get this friend's pc going since he has important tax related files in it and reinstalling xp isn't an option really. I want to try the hardware transfer option you're suggesting here, but it wouldnt be a probem if only it isnt a SCSI drive we we're talking about. how do i proceed? im not exactly familiar how to make a SCSI drive a slave to and IDE master so i gould apply the abovementioned option.

Please help; i'd appreciated it very much. A big thank you in advance
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#8
darth_ash
Posted 28 August 2005 - 11:53 AM

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Did you try the instructions in Post#4
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#9
aliengreen
Posted 28 August 2005 - 01:56 PM

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i havent given post #4 a shot yet, but i'll try it. i also downloaded the necessary file from the link just in case. i'll keep you posted.
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#10
darth_ash
Posted 28 August 2005 - 02:01 PM

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aliengreen,
Post#6 was just for jammamma because he did'nt have a XP Setup CD.
You don't need to download hal.dll; just follow the instructions in Post#4.
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#11
aliengreen
Posted 29 August 2005 - 02:35 AM

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Darth,

I tried post no. 4--Method 1 successfully copied the hal.dll file as instructed, but I still got the error message upon re-boot. I then tried Method 2 and got "unable to create file hal.dll" so another dead end. I re-tried the original suggested solution (re:bootcfg /rebuild) and lo and behold! it could not find the specified file (boot.ini). i then searched for the boot.ini file and true enough there was no such file. what gives?

I forgot to mention that prior to posting in this forum, the first remedy i tried was to re-install a copy of xp in the hopes that it would overwrite the old one and solve the problem. I specified it to install in the c:\ drive (IDE) but much later realized the original OS which was spoilt was installed rather in E:\ (the SCSI drive). In short, i now have two OSes installed, with the one in E:\ i desperately need to fix. Also, the installer i tried in this attempt on my friend's pc was mine, whereas the prior OS installed was his and is a different copy. is this an issue?will it conflict with your proposed solutions? im worried because we cant seem to find the relevant XP cds

thanks again in advance and hope your patience doesn't run out. :tazz:
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#12
aliengreen
Posted 29 August 2005 - 02:44 AM

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moreover, i also tried post #6, but didnt transfer the SCSI drive to another PC since it is run as a slave drive in the same PC using the working XP installation....no luck there either. pls advice

again thanks in advance and hope your patience runs eternal. :tazz:
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#13
aliengreen
Posted 30 August 2005 - 05:19 PM

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hi guys! problem solved! though not in the way I expected...as I mentioned there were two OSes I inadvertently installed, so whenever I ran the Recovery Console from the CD boot, I would always choose the second installed OS (E:\) since this is the relevant drive/OS I needed to fix.

however, it seemed I was getting nowhere fast, so on a whim I tried all the posted methods again but this time, I tried the first drive (C:\), thinking there was nothing to lose anyway(I hoped!). well, surprise surprise, it took just the rebuilding of the boot.ini file to make it alright again!

so, a very big thank you, especially to Darth Ash, for taking time out to post and respond to my problem. I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without the guidance and tips. muchos gracias! :tazz:
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#14
banetistic
Posted 01 September 2005 - 02:17 PM

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Help! I just got this problem today out of nowhere on my other comp. I've tried all the methods posted here as well as whatever I googled. And nothing seems to work?!

I tried the method on Post #2 but it didn't work:
1. It never prompted me for a password.
2. It tells me the ATTRIB command is not a recognized command.
3. It won't let me bootcfg /list or /rebuild. It says there's no list, then I can't rebuild unless I do a chkdsk first. I did a chkdsk, it says it's in good condition, but I still couldn't /rebuild after that, it keeps giving me the same error.

I also tried method on Post #4. Didn't work either. Please help, thanks.
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