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Cant start XP, missing or corrupr hal.dll 3

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bErEsTh

bErEsTh

Technical User
Jun 11, 2003
140
US
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

-Started with what I believed was a virus. Everything was painfully slow. applications would unexpectedly quit to desktop.
-Tried running virus software would quit to desktop (*in safe mode too)
-Tried restoring to ealrier point, wouldnt allow me.
-went to msconfig, would quit several times. Finally I was able to uncheck what looked like things in startup that didnt belong.
-Reboot, got the error message
-Microsoft knowledge base was useless, (about dual boots, which this isnt)

-THIS IS OR NEVER WAS A DUAL BOOT! I have read online that this can happen. Bios is set correctly as far as I can tell. Only 1 hard drive and before this hard drive didnt seem to be issue at all. Thanks for any help offered
 
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I saw that link prior to posting. The problemn is I have a Toshiba laptop with XP home and a recovery disc that isnt an actual XP disk, its one of those restorations or recovery disks. A complete recovery or reinstall to the extent that this disc does isnt an option (or at least yet). This makes getting to the recoveery console not possible. As far as boot.ini, nothing strange in there as well, booting off floppy.
Is there another way? Or at lest another way of getting access to recovery console? Thanks.
 
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Toshiba Laptops sometimes have an "i386" folder on the c:\ drive. If so you can install the recovery console by clicking on start > then Run and type the following "c:\i386\winnt32 /cmdcons" (without quotes).

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators
 
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If the BOOT.INI file does not point to the correct boot entry for Windows XP, you will get an error stating that Hal.Dll is missing . Simply correct the partition(x) entry in the BOOT.INI file."


If Greg's idea does not work, you could simply borrow an XP (or 2000) CD and install Recovery Console from that.

You may even find that the mere act of installing the Recovery Console (as it will write an entry to the Boot.ini file) will fix the problem XP is having with reading that file. If not follow this article's advise.

330184 - "Invalid Boot.ini" or "Windows Could Not Start" Error Messages When You Start Your Computer
 
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Silly question. Does it matter if the disk is xp home or pro? Is the recovery console the same?
 
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Recovery console asking for admin password. Password was never set by me. Os was pre-installed on laptop. Just hitting enter at prompt doesnt work either. Any ideas.
 
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308402 - 'The Password Is Not Valid' Error Message Appears When You Log On to Recovery Console in Windows XP

312149 - HOW TO: Enable Administrator to Log On Automatically in Recovery Console


If you can get a 2000 CD that Recovery Console can enter XP without a password due to a bug in XP.
 
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-I had said earlier blank passwords dont work
-I cant boot so I can get to Admin tools to set recovery
-the other option linney mentioned is possible except this is a laptop without a floppy disk so the download from microsoft wont work bcause the utility is for floppy setup only. CAnt find one for cd boot setup.
-I tried getting the info from floppies to cd, burned it and tried that but it wouldnt boot.
-I appreciate all the comments and help. Getting desperate because of vital info. Any additional info on how to make that a bootable CD would be great. Thanks again
 
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**Update**
This would be so much easier if I could get to recovery console
-I was able to slave the drive to another box.
-Ran virus protection and there was a Sasser virus. Fixed
-Took a look at boot.ini and to my suprise it was blank!
-So I copied the boot.ini from good box actig as master and pasted it in the boot.ini from bad drive from laptop. This is what I pasted:
[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="Microsoft Windows XP Home" /fastdetect
-Still didnt work
-copied new hal.dll file, still doesnt work.
 
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If your machine only has a single drive and partition then your boot.ini should look like this

[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" /fastdetect

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators
 
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Now the machine in question is XP home, so the boot.ini would just say home instead of professional, right?
 
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***UPDATE***
Problem fixed! Part of this whole problem was not being able to get to the desltop or get past admin password in the Recovery Console that I never set (bought the laptop from Best Buy)
-couldnt install recovery console from any prmot because I could never get a prmpt (remember no floppy drive)
-Had to use brute force to get in of my own computer?! Once there I tried expanding hal.dll, siad it was unable to
-Fixboot, didnt work either
-I tried bootcfg /list, siad there were no entries to list
-I then tried bootcfg /rebuild, Voila! it work
-The only thing that bugs me, by doing that I now have two choices to boot to in the boot.ini:
[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=" "
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
-Can I get rid of the last entry from the bottom and cahnge numbers accordingly? If I choose second entry from bottom, I get the same old error
-The other thing that bothers me is I cant browse the internet but I am connected, sheeesh! It never ends.
-Anyway if someone could answer that for me about the boot.ini entries that would be great. Thanks for everyones help.
 
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Thanks for the link on the boot.ini
I actually found out why my internet would conenct but not browse. When you uninstall McCafee Center, which I hate it will do damage to the winsocks. So there is a link that fixes this problem. WinsockXP fix (notice: XP only!)
Everything is back to normal. Thank you everyone who was gracious enought to lend a hand. You all ROCK! Much appreciated!
 
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has there been any references that this might be virus related. my friend and i have been working on these issues for some time. each time it has not been a dual boot situation. i am suspecting a new virus thats out and about that we have not heard of yet. if anyone has a theory out there let me know.
 
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Can't say I have seen much evidence of virus problems involved with Hal.dll, seems to occur with incorrect Boot.ini files a lot of the time. I do remember one occasion where the boot.ini files looked correct but the problem persisted, this strangely fixed itself just by installing the Recovery Console as a boot option and doing nothing more than that.

If you have any further details about what you are suggesting, post them here.
 
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it just seems weird that the boot.ini file would just up and corrupt itself.its kinda like windows updates sometimes disables all the services in services.msc..i would think it would be some kind of spyware or something or just part of some weird software and when it was uninstalled, like all uninstallers it leaves enough behind to really mess with the system.then again it could be a virus or just plain ol software corruption.
 
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