[pyro55]

Well basically I get that wonderful message upon startup that "Windows could not star because the following file is missing or corrupt; <windows root> system 32/hal.dll" so of course, I simply insert the disc and repair the file, and windows starts! This has become the procedure I must follow every time I want to restart my computer. I've tried this and other forums for a solution and still no such luck. what can I do?

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are you doing the repair exactly like the guide here ...if not follow the guide..

or try this ...
Restoring hal.dll from the Windows XP CD

1. Enter Windows XP Recovery Console.
2. When you reach the command line prompt ... type the following and then press Enter...

expand d:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32\hal.dll

Using the expand command as shown above, d represents the drive letter assigned to the CD/DVD drive that your Windows XP CD is currently in... this is usually d, but your system could assign a different letter if you have several hard drives ...or several optical drives
c:\windows represents the drive and folder that Windows XP is currently installed on. Again, this is usually the case but your system could be different.
3. If you're prompted to overwrite the file, press Y
4. Take out the Windows XP CD, type exit and then press Enter to restart your PC.

Assuming that a missing or corrupt hal.dll file was your only issue, Windows XP should now start normally.

[happyrock]

are you doing the repair exactly like the guide here ...if not follow the guide..

or try this ...
Restoring hal.dll from the Windows XP CD

1. Enter Windows XP Recovery Console.
2. When you reach the command line prompt ... type the following and then press Enter...

expand d:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32\hal.dll

Using the expand command as shown above, d represents the drive letter assigned to the CD/DVD drive that your Windows XP CD is currently in... this is usually d, but your system could assign a different letter if you have several hard drives ...or several optical drives
c:\windows represents the drive and folder that Windows XP is currently installed on. Again, this is usually the case but your system could be different.
3. If you're prompted to overwrite the file, press Y
4. Take out the Windows XP CD, type exit and then press Enter to restart your PC.

Assuming that a missing or corrupt hal.dll file was your only issue, Windows XP should now start normally.

[pyro55]

unable to create file hal.dll.
0 file(s) expanded.

[wannabe1]

Hi guys...

The HAL.dll is created during the Windows installation and is unique to the machine. The Repair Installation that happyrock linked you to should take care of that.

A corrupt, non-standard, or missing boot.ini file can also cause this error, so let's take a look at that. Click Start, right click on "My Computer", and choose "Properties". Under the "Advanced" tab, in the "Startup and Recovery" section, click on the "Settings" button. In the window that opens, click on the "Edit" button...a notepad window will open (boot.ini).

Copy and paste the contents of that window here for us.

[pyro55]

file cannot be found

[wannabe1]

Ok....tell me about your machine.

• Is the system drive (where windows is installed) the C: drive (Local Disk C:)
• Are you running XP Home or XP Pro?
• Do you only have the one operating system installed?

[pyro55]

Running XP pro installed on the C drive, running only 1 OS

[wannabe1]

Two more questions and we'll get started.

Is this an OEM machine like Dell, HP, etc... that has a recovery partition on it? It makes a difference when creating a boot file.

Is the system Folder named Windows? (C:\Windows) Or does the system directory have a name like MinNT?

[pyro55]

Dell inspiron 9300. Folder is named Windows.

[wannabe1]

Open a notepad window (Start - All Programs - Accessories - notepad).

Copy the text in red below and paste it to the notepad.

Click "File" on the toolbar and choose "Save As". Name this file boot.ini

In the "Save as type" feild, select "All Files".

Save this file to the root of C:. (Save the file to Local disk C:/)

Reboot and see if you can start without the cd.

[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="Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

Note: This boot file is designed specifically for this computer. Use of this file on any other machine may cause boot failure.

[pyro55]

worked like a charm! Thank you! I'm still having some (hopefully) unrelated problems with the memory or display which I which I will hunt for solutions to on other topics or start another if I have to. Thanks again!!!

[wannabe1]

Glad to lend a hand!