BleepingComputer.com: Can't start computer hal.dll missing or corrupt?

Hello,

I am posting this here because I don't know what else to do. Boopme was doing a great job in helping me in the Am i Infected? forum, but the situation has gone from bad to very bad and has gone beyond an infection. I am running Windows XP Professional Edition service pack 3 on a Compaq Presario SR1750NX

I was unable to start my computer in Safe Mode to complete boopme's instructions, so I turned my computer off and left. I just tried to restart it and I'm getting nothing but this message after a lot of strange script.

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


What's happening? I can't do anything now because all the computer shows is this one thing (i'm writting this on a laptop). I don't have a Windows XP installation disk so I can't boot up from one. The only things I can access are my boot menu, BIOS, and PC Recovery, but I don't want to straight recover because I don't want to lose all my data.

Thanks in advance to anyone for their help!
dragonfall1221


PS I apologize if having more than one threat open at a time is a breach in the rules, but I didn't see it when I checked.

See this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477

You can create your own Recovery Console disk with this file:

http://www.thecomputerparamedic.com/files/rc.iso

You must burn this file to a CD as an ISO. Post back if you need more information on how to do this.

Please. I don't know how to make an ISO image...

THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!!!! I'd make you brownies, but I don't know where you live

See this tutorial:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/write-a-cd-dvd-image-or-iso/

Okay, file burned to ISO. Got it working. I'm in the repair dialogue What do I do now?

PS You've helped me before!!! Thanks so much for your help again!

Now try Method 2 given here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477

tried method 2, but got a gigantic error message. I'm running CHKDSK /r to see if it can fix it.

okay, I ran CHKDSK /r which finally finished. When I try to do bootcfg /rebuild I get this message:

Error: Failed to successfully scan disks for Windows installations. This error may be caused by a corrupt file system, which would prevent Bootcfg from successfully scanning. Use chkdsk to detect any errors.

Note: this operation must complete successfully in order for the /add or /rebuild commands to be utilized.

When I tried to run CHKDSK again, I got this message:

Volume Presario created 11/11/05 03:03p
The colume Serial Number is e809-19d8

The volume appears to be in good condition and was not checked.
Use /p if you want to check the volume anyway.

I tried to do bootcfg /list, just to see what was there, and I got this message

There are currently no boot entries available to display

This post has been edited by dragonfall1221: 04 January 2010 - 03:23 AM

Try this command in the Recovery Console:

fixboot

new boot sector was successfully written. What's next?

Type exit and see if Windows will boot.

nopw. still got the same error. I found these instructions at the compaq website that dealt specifially with this problem
I'm paraphrasing to save space.

Reboot from recovery CD
at command prompt type diskpart and note the letter of the main drive
press esc to reneter command prompt and press C:
at prompt type attrib -h-s-r boot.ini

I tried this, but all I got was this error

the system cannot find the file or directory specified

Since the command prompt was at C, I typed dir to see if there was anything actually in my drive still. I didn't see a listing for boot.ini. The only files I saw that had boot in them were

BOOT. BAK
Boot.old
bootex.log


I take it this is bad?

Try this command in the Recovery Console:

fixmbr

just disregard the giant CAUTION sign and continue? I got this message

***CAUTION***

This computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record.
FIXMBR may damage your partitoin tables if you proceed.
This could cause all the partitions on the current hard disk to become inaccessible.
If you are not having problems accessing your drive do not continue.
Are you sure you want to write a new MBR?

This post has been edited by dragonfall1221: 04 January 2010 - 06:52 PM

Given that all the partitions on your drive are currently inaccessible I don't think you have much to lose.

You could try backing up your important data before with this:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vis...ndows-computer/