[Mattock]

Hi,

Rorschach112 sent me over with this problem, can anyone help?

I have tried Last Known Good Confoguration and the standard repair procedure in the guide, but to no avail, just get the following message every time:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<windows root>\system32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

Edited by Mattock, 09 October 2009 - 10:30 AM.

[Advertisements]

i also need help with the same problem,i was downloading updates and my son laptop said to reinitiate and came up with this error windowsroot/system32/hal.dll. missing or corrupt, install a new copy of this archive.
how can i do that if i cant get in ?
please someone help me

[DANIEL GARZA]

i also need help with the same problem,i was downloading updates and my son laptop said to reinitiate and came up with this error windowsroot/system32/hal.dll. missing or corrupt, install a new copy of this archive.
how can i do that if i cant get in ?
please someone help me

[Mattock]

Might also be worth mentioning that the night before, following some brilliant work with Ror on sorting out a virus issue, on shutdown it had carried out a critical update, which could have been Service Pack 3, but am not sure, Ror thought it worth a mention.

Have also since, run a chkdsk /r and it found and fixed some errors, but came back with the same message on reboot. Also tried repairing as per Geektogo guide again - nojoy.

Checked boot.ini, looks OK.

Bit stuck as to where to go next, any help welcome.

Hi Daniel, you may have the same symptom as me, but the cause may not be the same, I suggest you post a new topic. Good luck!

[rshaffer61]

Hi Matlock.
Rorschach asked me to take a look at your issue.
I would have to agree with both of your assessments since the update happened and the issue started.
Have you tried to uninstall SP3 or if there is a system restore point to before the update was installed?
I'm thinking probably not since most of the Malware techs have you create a fresh restore point.

[Mattock]

Hello

Thanks for picking this up.

Tried to unistall from the RC, (batch spuninst.txt in $ntservicepackuninstall$\spuninst) but got a file not found

I am trying to restre from the recovery console now, but have had access denied when trying to cd\system¬1\resto¬1.

Any thoughts?

[rshaffer61]

OK try this.
Go to HERE
and follow the instructions from Microsoft on how to manually uninstall SP3
Let me know if this gets rid of it for you.

[Mattock]

Hi

The spuninst directory seems to be empty - I got a file not found!

[rshaffer61]

OK that may be the problem.
Can you delete the directory and then try again?
If not we may have to do a repair installation to correct it.

[Mattock]

Hi, done. No joy though

[rshaffer61]

let's try a repair installation then. It seems the update was flawed and thats causing the problem.

What I would suggest you do is to Backup your Data Files.
For this I would suggest using a External Hard Drive Enclosure. This will allow you to keep your Important Data safe and Separated from the main system in case of problems. The cost for this kind of Backup System has come down a lot. I would suggest a 500 Gig capacity for your needs. Since you will only be Backing Up Data Files Only this should be sufficient to do that for you. Follow the next two links to see examples of the price you will be looking at.
• HERE
• HERE

I suggest going to Microsofts Backup Tutorial and follow the steps to do a Backup to a External Drive and also it will guide you on how to do a Scheduled Backup even at night.

Another way you can do a Backup is by using DVD’s. This method is just as effective and can be done using the same steps as above.


After the above is done then go on to the next step.



Repair Installation Instructions

· Insert your Windows XP CD in your CD-ROM and then Restart your computer.
· At the first post screen start tapping the Del key to enter System Bios
· Find the Advance Options or Boot Sequence screen.
· You will need to change the boot sequence so that the CDrom is first and the HD is second.
· Press F10 to Save and Exit and then press Enter to accept.
· The system will now reboot
· When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.
· When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER
· To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
· At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed. DO NOT SELECT THIS OPTION.

· On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.
· Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected and highlighted in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP.
· Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.

You can also go HERE
to read a step by step tutorial with screenshots.

[Mattock]

Hi

Went through the set-up, machine rebooted, when I came back it had the same message - hal.dll missing or corrupt still

Head hurts from banging it on the table

I also thought I would copy some files to the c:\ drive (which is slave to d:) from the RC, but it won't even let me cd into an folders (Acces Denied), is that usual?

[rshaffer61]

It happens alot.
OK then let's try a parallel installation and see if we can get you back up and running.


Parallel Installation of Windows XP

Boot to the Windows XP installation cd by pressing a key when the "Press any key to boot from cd" prompt appears at the top of the screen.

• At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press Enter to set up Windows XP.
• Accept the License Agreement by pressing F8
• With your current installation selected in the box, press Esc
• Select C: Partition1 [NTFS] in the box and press Enter
• To continue setup using this partition, press C
• Now you should see formatting options...choose the last one, Leave the current file system intact (no changes), and press Enter
• To use a different folder, press Esc
• Name the folder WINDOWS0 (just type a 0 (zero)) and press Enter

The Windows installation should begin. This will install Windows to a new folder, leaving your data intact. Any programs installed on the old directory will have to be reinstalled to the new one. Device drivers will also have to be installed for all the hardware to work as it should.

The data will be located in the Documents and Settings folder (C:\Documents and Settings) under your old user account name...so when you set up the new installation, give yourself a slightly different user account name.

[Mattock]

OK, done that and rebooted from Windows CD again, expected it to start Windows and continue set-up, but it took me back to the Set-up Menu screen again. Am I doing something wrong?

[rshaffer61]

Did you take out the cd?
Once it has restarted then you should be able to boot into windows.
Since the bios is set to boot to cdrom first if the cd is still in it will automatically boot to it.

[Mattock]

Sorry about this, rebooted disk out, still says

<windows root>system32\hal.dll is missing or corrupt - almost as if
it's looking in the wrong place?