HAL.DLL missing or corrupted

  • Thread starter Thread starter cat rancher
  • Start date Start date
C

cat rancher

I restored a partition with Drive Image and
am getting this message. It's worked fine for
over a year but now a problem.

I might have marked the partition active or
not, I'm not sure. Older versions of the
partition don't work.

I think the boot.ini is ok. I checked it and
can't find a problem.

I copied HAL.DLL to all of my drives under
windows/system/32 to see if booting was going
to another drive and a different error message
would appear. The first time it booted to the
first choice in the boot screen and after that
gives the same missing or corrupted HAL.DLL

I've downloaded stuff from Microsoft but thought
someone here might be able to help save me some
time before going through their long list of things.

Symantec doesn't have good tech support any
more; not like PowerQuest or whatever their
name was.

Thanks, if you can help : -)
 
If you are imaging back to your C: partition then you should mark the drive
as active otherwise it simply will not boot. I have more than one operating
system on my machine but i mainly use Windows XP Pro for general work. This
is drive E and is regularly imaged with drive image but on reimaging the
'mark drive as active' is not enabled. If i do this the machine, agauin,
simply will not boot because the C: drive should be the active partition.
As the Hal.Dll problem is usually a boot ini problem have you considered
trying to boot with an emergency boot disk. I always keep mine handy because
sometimes, on reimaging, i get a ntldr error or something similar and then
all that i do is boot with the emergency boot disk and then, when it has
booted to the desktop i copy the boot ini, ntdetect, and ntldr files over to
the C; partition.
You can find out about how to create the emergency boot disk on my website
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org Click the Win XP Faq button and check out
question 10.
If you don't have a spare machine to create the boot disk just email me (you
will find my email address on the Contact Me page of my website and i'll
email you the files. All you need do is copy them to a floppy. The only
problem is that you will be presented with a menu when you boot up because,
as i've said, my system is a dual boot. But the boot ini file can be edited
later if it solves the problem.
 
I restored a partition with Drive Image and
am getting this message. It's worked fine for
over a year but now a problem.

I might have marked the partition active or
not, I'm not sure. Older versions of the
partition don't work.

I think the boot.ini is ok. I checked it and
can't find a problem.

I copied HAL.DLL to all of my drives under
windows/system/32 to see if booting was going
to another drive and a different error message
would appear. The first time it booted to the
first choice in the boot screen and after that
gives the same missing or corrupted HAL.DLL

I've downloaded stuff from Microsoft but thought
someone here might be able to help save me some
time before going through their long list of things.

Symantec doesn't have good tech support any
more; not like PowerQuest or whatever their
name was.

Thanks, if you can help : -)
Click to expand...

While it's entirely possible for that file to become corrupt it is often
not the cause of this error message. A more common cause is a boot.ini file
problem. Unfortunately, you have attempted to replace the hal.dll file.
There are several versions of the file and which one is installed depends
on the hardware base and some system features. Unless you can restore the
correct hal.dll file (the one that was there originally) and tackle the
problem from the boot.ini angle, you may end up doing a repair or reinstall
to get this sorted properly.

"Invalid Boot.ini" or "Windows could not start" error messages when you start your computer
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184

Error Message: Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;320252
 
Thanks for the help John. I have two partitions that
are bootable, both XP Pro. The secondary one on
Drive E, and on a different disk is the one that won't
boot. I will make sure E; is not marked as active. C
boots fine now. I should post a copy of my boot.ini
file. I'll do that.

: If you are imaging back to your C: partition then you should mark the
drive
: as active otherwise it simply will not boot. I have more than one
operating
: system on my machine but i mainly use Windows XP Pro for general work.
This
: is drive E and is regularly imaged with drive image but on reimaging the
: 'mark drive as active' is not enabled. If i do this the machine, agauin,
: simply will not boot because the C: drive should be the active partition.
: As the Hal.Dll problem is usually a boot ini problem have you considered
: trying to boot with an emergency boot disk. I always keep mine handy
because
: sometimes, on reimaging, i get a ntldr error or something similar and then
: all that i do is boot with the emergency boot disk and then, when it has
: booted to the desktop i copy the boot ini, ntdetect, and ntldr files over
to
: the C; partition.
: You can find out about how to create the emergency boot disk on my website
: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org Click the Win XP Faq button and check out
: question 10.
: If you don't have a spare machine to create the boot disk just email me
(you
: will find my email address on the Contact Me page of my website and i'll
: email you the files. All you need do is copy them to a floppy. The only
: problem is that you will be presented with a menu when you boot up
because,
: as i've said, my system is a dual boot. But the boot ini file can be
edited
: later if it solves the problem.
:
: --
: John Barnett MVP
: Associate Expert
: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
:
:
: : >I restored a partition with Drive Image and
: > am getting this message. It's worked fine for
: > over a year but now a problem.
: >
: > I might have marked the partition active or
: > not, I'm not sure. Older versions of the
: > partition don't work.
: >
: > I think the boot.ini is ok. I checked it and
: > can't find a problem.
: >
: > I copied HAL.DLL to all of my drives under
: > windows/system/32 to see if booting was going
: > to another drive and a different error message
: > would appear. The first time it booted to the
: > first choice in the boot screen and after that
: > gives the same missing or corrupted HAL.DLL
: >
: > I've downloaded stuff from Microsoft but thought
: > someone here might be able to help save me some
: > time before going through their long list of things.
: >
: > Symantec doesn't have good tech support any
: > more; not like PowerQuest or whatever their
: > name was.
: >
: > Thanks, if you can help : -)
: >
: >
:
:
 
I didn't replace the HAL.DLL on the drive
I was trying to boot as choice 2 on the multi-boot
menu. I just copied it to other drives (not c) so
that I could see if boot.ini was going to another
drive because of a mistake in the form of boot.ini

I'm not real sure what in boot.ini designates what.
There seems to be three variables. One is for drive,
one for partition, but the 3rd is a mystery to me and
their order isn't clear either, at least now I'm confused
because what I thought was what doesn't work.

: On Tue, 5 Jul 2005 16:06:04 -0700, cat rancher wrote:
:
: > I restored a partition with Drive Image and
: > am getting this message. It's worked fine for
: > over a year but now a problem.
: >
: > I might have marked the partition active or
: > not, I'm not sure. Older versions of the
: > partition don't work.
: >
: > I think the boot.ini is ok. I checked it and
: > can't find a problem.
: >
: > I copied HAL.DLL to all of my drives under
: > windows/system/32 to see if booting was going
: > to another drive and a different error message
: > would appear. The first time it booted to the
: > first choice in the boot screen and after that
: > gives the same missing or corrupted HAL.DLL
: >
: > I've downloaded stuff from Microsoft but thought
: > someone here might be able to help save me some
: > time before going through their long list of things.
: >
: > Symantec doesn't have good tech support any
: > more; not like PowerQuest or whatever their
: > name was.
: >
: > Thanks, if you can help : -)
:
: While it's entirely possible for that file to become corrupt it is often
: not the cause of this error message. A more common cause is a boot.ini
file
: problem. Unfortunately, you have attempted to replace the hal.dll file.
: There are several versions of the file and which one is installed depends
: on the hardware base and some system features. Unless you can restore the
: correct hal.dll file (the one that was there originally) and tackle the
: problem from the boot.ini angle, you may end up doing a repair or
reinstall
: to get this sorted properly.
:
: "Invalid Boot.ini" or "Windows could not start" error messages when you
start your computer
: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184
:
: Error Message: Windows could not start because the following file is
missing or corrupt
: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;320252
:
: --
: Sharon F
: MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User
 
I guess there are 4 parameters in boot.ini

What would be correct for the first partition
on the second disk? Thanks.
 
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