Missing Hal.dll

[trinironnie]

Last week i used AVG to see if i had any type of virus on my computer, and it looks like it deleted this file because as soon as I restarted my computer i got a black screen with white letters saying system32/hal.dll file is missing. After many attempts of trying to fix this, even trying to do the repair option which wouldn't work because it wouldn't come up so I had to restore my computer. After restoring which fixed the problem my computer started to update, when the service pack 3 update was finish it updated internet explorer as well. After restarting i got the same missing hal.dll file. Doing some research i found out my hard drive could be physically damaged or something to do with internet explorer. I restored my computer again, updated it, but didn't update internet explorer when they asked. So far so good the error hasn't came up. Now I'm wondering if i should buy a new hard drive for my laptop or is there anyway to fix this problem?

[Gokulo]

I had some problems with my boot.ini file disappearing not long ago. From what I remember the hall.dll popped up along as a similar problem. And yes, aside from it being caused by some malware, it could be the fault of your hdd going south. You could probably look for diagnostic tools for your hdd to check it out. As for the other option, IE, I read that IE8 was the one at fault, didn't read in depth though so I don't know the details and if the problem been fixed yet.

[viperlasson]

Would you want to do a clean install of windows xp? I've never used repair / system restore if things have gone wrong, just said screw it and reformatted. For your hdd you might want to do a check disk in command prompt.

How to perform disk error checking in Windows XP

[trinironnie]

I had some problems with my boot.ini file disappearing not long ago. From what I remember the hall.dll popped up along as a similar problem. And yes, aside from it being caused by some malware, it could be the fault of your hdd going south. You could probably look for diagnostic tools for your hdd to check it out. As for the other option, IE, I read that IE8 was the one at fault, didn't read in depth though so I don't know the details and if the problem been fixed yet.

I was thinking it could be my hard drive, but if it was wouldn't it not work at all?

Would you want to do a clean install of windows xp? I've never used repair / system restore if things have gone wrong, just said screw it and reformatted. For your hdd you might want to do a check disk in command prompt.

How to perform disk error checking in Windows XP

How would I go about a clean install of xp?

[Blabj]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/hal_9000.jpg

Hello, Dave.

[Shenrien]

just reformat, you can probably get everything back alot easier then attempting to fix this PoS error.

[viperlasson]

***Back up anything you need to an external source, your hard drive will be wiped clean after this process***

To reformat, first you need to boot off of your windows xp install cd. To do this you need to put your cd into your drive and restart windows. When your computer shuts down and begins to start up again you need to get into the BIOS. For a few seconds a keyboard button will appear on your screen, for example, mine says "For SETUP press F2".

If your computer starts to load windows, you passed up this opportunity and need to try again. Once you are in your bios look for a boot order tab and make your cd/dvd drive the highest priority of your other devices. Once you have made it #1, save your settings and quit. Your computer will restart. Once you're booted off the cd, you'll want to delete any/all partitions on the drive (they will appear at the bottom). You'll have one empty space, select it and windows will want to format it. Do a NON-quick format, this will scan for bad sectors on your hdd. (This will take a long time depending on how large your hdd is)
It's pretty easy from here on, your computer will restart and begin to install windows xp. Install your latest drivers from your manufacturer and you're done!