Lodge Secretary said:
message
After last update have not been able to boot to windows. Tried booting
from cd and aparently repaired some errors, but now tells me to reload
file HAL.dll
Hi "Lodge Secretary",
Problems with BOOT.INI can sometimes falsely report a HAL.DLL error.
FYI: The "missing or corrupt" hal.dll error displays shortly after the
computer is first started. Windows XP has not yet fully loaded when this
error message appears. (Sometimes you can get past that error on re-boot,
if it is a temporary disk mis-read.)
Four possible causes:
1. hal.dll could be missing because it was moved or deleted.
2. hal.dll could be damaged because of a bad disk sector.
3. A missing boot.ini file can cause a hal.dll error.
4. A corrupt boot.ini file can cause a hal.dll error.
Missing HAL.DLL
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/missinghaldll.htm
HAL = Hardware Abstraction Layer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_abstraction_layer
FWIW. --Richard
- - -
** UPDATE **
Oh Wow! While this reply was in my Drafts folder to be sent later, I
installed Recovery Console to my hard drive from the Windows XP Pro SP3 CD,
and later, I messed something up that affected the next boot up and I got my
first ever HAL.DLL error on this computer. What a wild coincidence!
After rebooting to Recovery Console, at the C:\> prompt, I used command "dir
boot*.*" (without quotes) to verify that boot.ini and boot.bak were present.
Next, "type boot.ini" to display it, and confirmed it had a faulty 3rd boot
option, besides the WindowsXP and RecoveryConsole options. Next command,
"rename boot.ini boot2.ini". Next, "copy boot.bak boot.ini". Next, "type
boot.ini". It was OK, so "exit" and rebooted, and entered Windows OK.
It should be noted that boot.ini is a hidden file, but in Recovery Console,
all files of all attributes were displayed. (Boot.bak was the backup of the
previous boot.ini made while trying to make a 3rd boot option.)
Here's a copy of the ORIGINAL installed XP boot.ini before any changes:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
Note that the last 2 lines above should be one line without word wrap, with
a space between XP and the word Professional. If Windows is installed on the
first partition of your first drive, you can use the above to make and
transfer a copy from a floppy or USB flash drive to your C: drive, after
renaming or copying your existing boot.ini file. Note: Disks are numbered
beginning with (0), but partitions are numbered beginning with (1).
If unable to copy boot.ini from elsewhere, you can use Recovery Console to
repair boot.ini with:
BOOTCFG /SCAN
Which scans all disks for Windows installations, and then:
BOOTCFG /COPY
To make a backup copy of your present boot.ini, and then:
BOOTCFG /REBUILD
Which will build a new boot.ini file. (It has instructions.)
Note: When I tried the "bootcfg /scan", I got this result:
C:\>BOOTCFG /SCAN
Scanning all disks for Windows installations.
Please wait, since this may take a while...
Error: Failed to succcessfully[sic] scan disks for Windows installations.
This error may be caused by a corrupt file system, which would
prevent Bootcfg from successfully scanning. Use chkdsk to
detect any disk errors.
Note: This operation must complete successfully in order for the
/add or /rebuild commands to be utilized.
C:\>
I ran Check Disk:
CHKDSK /P
which took about 4 minutes and cleaned up some "minor inconsistencies".
(Yes, that fast - I have 93% free space on my hard drive.
I hope something in the above notes will be of help with your situation.
Please report back with your results, or further questions.
(Triple-click here, to be of good cheer.
--Richard
