[cubegame]

Good afternoon.

I'm having trouble with my laptop which will no longer boot. After the POST screen I get a screen with the message "<systemroot>\windows\system32\hal.dll is missing or corrupted, please replace this file" and can get no further in normal or safe mode.

After a bit of searching I came to the conclusion it might be BOOT.INI so I set out to rebuild it via the recovery console using BOOTCFG /rebuild. However, this will not work and it says the scan cannot be completed sucessfully. I ran CHKDSK /R and it did find and fix some errors but BOOTCFG still would not run.

The single hard disk is split into two partitions, C: is the boot device and windows is on drive D:.At present BOOT.INI says:-

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

This seems ok to me but I'm not sure 100% so any ideas there?

I've also tried FIXBOOT and FIXMBR from the recovery console to no avail. All files seem to be accessible so disc damage is only minimal if it has happened at all.

I had got to the point of trying a repair install but Windows XP setup doesn't make the option available.

Any ideas?

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[DragonMaster Jay]

Hi!

See this tutorial: http://www.geekstogo...or-t160847.html

[cubegame]

Hi!

See this tutorial: http://www.geekstogo...or-t160847.html

I'm at the ask in the forum stage as the other things don't work. Have replaced all likley problem files with the copies from the Windows XP CD.

Just wondering if there is a magical solution before I reinstall windows......

[diabillic]

So you have followed that link to no avail?

[cubegame]

So you have followed that link to no avail?

Yes, unfortunately. Bootcfg won't work for some reason and replacing the HAL.DLL file also fails.

[diabillic]

OK, the next step is to perform a repair install of Windows.

[cubegame]

OK, the next step is to perform a repair install of Windows.

Is there anyway to force this repair option to be available? WIth my DELL OEM XP disc the option doesn't appear.

[DragonMaster Jay]

http://www.geekstogo...ws-XP-t138.html

[cubegame]

http://www.geekstogo...ws-XP-t138.html

Repair option isn't available. I've got a retail Win XP disc to try today but otherwise I suspect the end has been reached.

Also tried ERD commander last night and it can't even find the Win XP installation......

[diabillic]

http://www.geekstogo...ws-XP-t138.html

Repair option isn't available. I've got a retail Win XP disc to try today but otherwise I suspect the end has been reached.

Also tried ERD commander last night and it can't even find the Win XP installation......

Your gonna have to do a fresh install of XP then.

[DragonMaster Jay]

A fresh install of XP will completely redo the boot configuration. This is what you want.