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Error during Windows Reinstallation Hal.dll missing?!?!

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by aprules13

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I was reinstalling windows to speed my computer back up. All was fine until my computer restarted. Right before it was about to start the Windows XP installation it gave me an error like Couldn't find Hal.dll in my system32 files.So I restarted my computer and searched for HAL.DLL in system32 sure enough it was there. Ive been looking around but it seems people are only getting this error when starting up there computer not when they Reinstall windows. Anything regarding a fix too that involves boot.ini issues. I checked for this file just incase it applied too my situation oddly enough only a backup was found. Im not sure that this applies but I thought I'd include that. Anyone with any ideas on how too fix my Error please post here! I would be very grateful. And please consider I'm still young and kind of unfamiliar with how windows work so it would probably be better to explain the fix is a Noob manner if you will.

11 replies

by aprules13

Thanks for the reply. nothing was wrong my computer was just filled with a lot of crap and thought id get a fresh start by reinstalling windowz.

by seanferd

Could be your boot.ini file has a bad entry. You can edit it manually, or use the Recovery Console (if your XP has one) to Fixboot and Fixmbr for good measure.

Could be there is an actual disk or hardware problem.

Even if the file is where you looked for it, it is probably corrupt if the other possibilities are not the cause.
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/missinghaldll.htm

If the above doesn't work, you can try this:

http://www.killdisk.com/
or
http://www.dban.org/

Use one of these to wipe the drive, then partition and install XP. When you reinstall, make sure you have any drivers ready for hardware not natively supported by the XP install disc. (You do this at "Press F6 to install drivers".) The drivres are particularly important at install time if they are for SATA, video card, or something crucial that wasn't supported when the XP disc was published.

The thing with HAL.dll (hardware abstraction layer) is that it is different depending on the computer. I don't know why XP insists on finding the wrong HAL but I've seen it do this a lot during installations.

by aprules13

Wow thankz a million. Is there anyway I can give you rep or anything for this. Im so glad you spent your time finding this and even if you know im still as grateful.I saw something like this in a youtube video but my speakers werent plugged in and I didnt follow.

by charliespencer

If I understand your question, you want to reward seanferd in some way. Next time you submit a question, use the 'Ask a Question' button instead of the 'Start a Discussion' one. The Questions forum includes a button you can click to indicate if the answer was helpful (a 'Thumbs Up' as we call it around here). TR members have a friendly competition to see who can get the most Thumbs each week.

by rob miners

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by rob miners

Welcome to TechRepublic

You really should be posting to the Questions Forum. It's to the right of Start a Discussion.

Seeing that you are new here Palmie might provide his links to a few of the amenities available.

When you ask a Question in the Questions Forum you can show your appreciation for the effort that went into the Answer by marking the Post as Helpful. This will award the respondent a Thumb. Thats how we trade for information provided to solve the problem.

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We don't have an Inbox the facility is to send mail only. :D

by charliespencer

You might want to check out the FAQ and New Users Guide:

https://www.techrepublic.com.com/1200-10871-5757160.html

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/techofalltrades/?p=152

Never apologize for being new. Everybody here was a new member at some point in time. When you're new to a forum, look around first so you can get some idea of what's allowed, tolerated, cool, uncool, or will get you reported to the authorities. You're off to a good start here. Stick around, we need more young people participating.

by rob miners

I've seen a couple of your posts to situations like this before and I thought that you may have a template. ;)

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