Missing or Corrupt hal.dll

Mr_love_monkey · 01-07-2010, 21:39

My friend's pc has this error and won't boot - what's the best way to fix this?

Having googled, answers seem to consist of booting to the xp disc and using the recovery console, but this machine has no physical media, just the hidden restore partition that obviously he doesn't want to use as he likes his data.

Suggestions?

I'm currently looking at using a linux iso, and the copying the dll from an xp machine I have here - will that work?

As a last result I could probably take the drive out of the machine, attach to a machine here and copy it that way?

---------- Post added at 21:39 ---------- Previous post was at 21:35 ----------

oh also, he's got xp home, but my version here would be xp professional - would that stop me just copying it?

DaiNasty · 01-07-2010, 21:52

This doesn't actually have to be the hal.dll at fault. The same error message can be caused by a damaged boot.ini file or damaged boot sector on the hard disk.
Easily fixed if you have access to a suitable XP Home disk but tricky otherwise.

I've never tried using recovery console on Home from a Pro cd but my instinct is that it would refuse to play. You'd probably get a 'wrong version' message.

Mr_love_monkey · 01-07-2010, 21:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaiNasty

This doesn't actually have to be the hal.dll at fault. The same error message can be caused by a damaged boot.ini file or damaged boot sector on the hard disk.
Easily fixed if you have access to a suitable XP Home disk but tricky otherwise.

I've never tried using recovery console on Home from a Pro cd but my instinct is that it would refuse to play. You'd probably get a 'wrong version' message.

yeah, I'd read about the boot.ini file as well - either way if I can get access to the drives via linux (which I think I can, as I've just tried on a laptop here) I'm hoping I can do 'something'

Delta Whiskey · 01-07-2010, 21:59

It could be an indication of an underlying hardware problem. I'd be inclined to take his hard drive out and back up the data to another drive first. You could then copy the missing file to his drive and see if it cures the error.

punky · 01-07-2010, 22:00

I'd have though a missing/corrupted hal.dll would be a good thing. At least he can turn his computer off and not have to walk around the house covering his mouth.

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

01-07-2010, 22:01

you should be able to get into recovery console. It will search for OS just enter it and try fixmbr bootcfg /rebuild and fix boot commands( try one at a time test). I dont think it will matter tbh about home and pro but I am prepared to be proven wrong

admars · 01-07-2010, 22:03

I'm sure I've fixed it using fixmbr at the recovery console, can be from a disc close to the machine's os i think. eg if you have xp home installed, you can use an xp pro disc.

I'm fairly sure I've also done it from a Hiren's boot cd, copying hal.dll across. one of my usb sticks has hal.dll on it, I must have left it on there for a reason

supergrubdisc may also be useful to fix mbr, it's quicker and easier than using a windows disc.

Actually I think I fixed it on one work machine by using Hirens and a chkdsk on the machine's hard drive fixed it.

I had this bookmarked, maybe it's useful
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findby...singhaldll.htm

DaiNasty · 01-07-2010, 22:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_love_monkey

yeah, I'd read about the boot.ini file as well - either way if I can get access to the drives via linux (which I think I can, as I've just tried on a laptop here) I'm hoping I can do 'something'

I guess a good start would be to create a disk image so all his files are secured. Once that's done it's always less stressful to try 'stuff'

Aragorn · 01-07-2010, 22:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delta Whiskey

It could be an indication of an underlying hardware problem. I'd be inclined to take his hard drive out and back up the data to another drive first. You could then copy the missing file to his drive and see if it cures the error.

As DW says, it's probably corrupt due to a failing disk. SystemRescueCD is a good Linux boot disk which can read NTFS and save data to an external drive.
Backup first - if he can - then worry about trying to recover, but you'll need an XP home CD - I tried recovering Home with a Pro CD and it don't work

Mr_love_monkey · 02-07-2010, 21:12

Thanks for all the suggestions/concerns.

It happened after he unistalled some software, so I don't know if that adds weight to a failing disc or not.

If I wanted to back everything up to a new disk - could I just take an image of it and apply it to another disc, (and replace hal.dll) - and everything would/should work?

DaiNasty · 02-07-2010, 21:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_love_monkey

If I wanted to back everything up to a new disk - could I just take an image of it and apply it to another disc, (and replace hal.dll) - and everything would/should work?

If you clone across to a new disk it will simply carry the fault across. You'll still need to diagnose & fix the broken boot sector/boot.ini/hal.dll

On the plus side, if it IS a failing hard drive at least that should stop further faults developing.

Mr_love_monkey · 27-07-2010, 21:11

FYI - it was the boot.ini file, once that was replaced, things started working again, but he's going to whip his data off onto another drive incase it is a sign of things failing.

Thanks for the help