hal.dll file missing and no REPAIR option in the recovery console

[jeeremie]

Hello,

I installed few days ago SUSE Linux on my comp and since i have the <windows root>/windows/system32/hall.dll file missing or corrupt error message when i want to use windows XP.

I need help but please don't tell me to insert the windows XP installation CD-ROM and to choose the REPAIR option in the recovery console because i don't have this option - everyone is repeating me the same thing since one week. Actually i don't have any option on this CD. The only thing i can do is to insert the CD and wait for the installation to be done. Of course, because i miss the hall.dll file i cannot reinstall anything.

One friend gave me a solution. He told me to reinstall the hall.dll file missing in its location in c:/windows/system32 but i didn't find the location in SUSE (I think SUSE is very bad; it was the first and last time i was trying it). So finally his solution didn't work and i could not.

I just installed windows XP few days ago too and i don't have any file i want to keep on it. So all solution will be welcome.

I hope someone will be able to help me.

Thanks guys,

Jay

[snowmonkey]

If your system was formatted with FAT32, you can just boot to a Win98 floppy and then copy the hal.dll from your XP cd over to your hard drive. 'copy D:\1386\system32\hal.dll c:\windows\system32\hal.dll'

If NTFS, then download the XP boot floppys, and go to the Recovery Console... If you can now access your cdrom, then copy the file over from there. If not, you can copy the hal.dll to a floppy, and copy it over...

XP Home boot floppy: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

XP Pro boot floppy: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

My suggestion is to do a clean install since you don't have anything that you want to save:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...october07.mspx
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
http://www.theeldergeek.com/clean_in...windows_xp.htm

Cheers

[jeeremie]

Originally Posted by snowmonkey

If your system was formatted with FAT32, you can just boot to a Win98 floppy and then copy the hal.dll from your XP cd over to your hard drive. 'copy D:\1386\system32\hal.dll c:\windows\system32\hal.dll'

Yes, my system is formatted with FaT32. But i don't really understand what is a Win98 floppy. Do u mean i must download a RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk FAT32 for Win98???? Why not a floppy disk FAT32 for Win XP?????

I am confused. Could you be more explicit????

Thanks for your help.
Jay

[TauLepton]

The hal.dll error is often caused by a badly configured boot.ini file. Here's my guess about what happened:
1. The SuSe installer rewrote your partition table. It changed the number of your windows partition; for instance if it was hda1 before it could now be on hda3. (Why it would do this, I don't know, but it could. I know the Windows installer sometimes does.)
2. Your boot.ini file now points to a partition that is no longer valid. The partition's bootcode functions normally, but as soon as it looks for the operating system, it can't find anything. hal.dll just happens to be the first thing it can't find, so that's what it shows an error for.

If this is the case, here's what I would do:
1. If your windows installation is on a FAT32 partition, you should be able to edit boot.ini from SuSe. Make sure it points to the right partition, and fix it if it doesn't.
2. If your partition can't be edited from SuSe (for instance, if it's NTFS), you may have to make a bootable disk in order to modify boot.ini. Again, make sure boot.ini points to the right partition, and fix it if it doesn't.

here's microsoft's page on editing boot.ini

Hope this helps!