Corrupt win file

Hi all

Newbie here asking for advice please.

My Dell PC running windows10 cannot boot, I see message as follows........

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt ........C Windows root>\system32\hal.dll reinstall a copy of the file.

I cannot get past this screen, I have a rescue disc but cannot change boot seqence. PC stuck on this message.

Can anyone help or is it a trip to repair man?

Edited by hamluis, 04 March 2017 - 08:44 AM.
Moved from Crashes/BSODs to W10 Spt - Hamluis.

Why can't you change the boot sequence? Let's make sure you're doing it the right way. Go into bios, go to the boot device entry, move the optical drive to the top of the boot order and then save your change and exit bios

Every manufacturer has its own way of invoking UEFI (or at least so it seems) which is where you'll use the BIOS settings to change boot order.

See this Dell Support Article on enabling boot from DVD.  The UEFI/BIOS step in the boot process occurs long before Windows ever attempts to load and you should be able to change the order on the boot devices easily.

Hi Guys

I need to press key F2 and F12 for setup and boot sequence, but it does not work, what ever key I press it goes straight to the screen displaying the message about the corrupt /missing file.

I tried to boot into safe mode the same thing happens.

Thanks for the input but I had to take the PC to my local repair man, he's not to expensive and when your not very computer savvy it had to be my best option.

Thanks again

To get into bios on a Dell you need to start tapping the F2 key (NOT the F12 key) as soon as you power up. You should continue tapping it until the bios you are given the option to enter "setup" or "bios".  I'm not sure why you thought you need the F12 key.

Just to reiterate what Allan has said, for Dell (at least at the moment) to invoke UEFI one must begin pressing the F2 key approximately once per second as soon as the machine is powered on.  The same is true for whatever the key happens to be for your given make of computer.  For example, on my HP laptop one uses the ESC key, not the F2 key.  You need to check at your machine's manufacturer's support pages for that model to determine what the necessary key press is.

I believe Dell allows you to access boot options directly via a repeated F12 press, but I always use the F2 for setup, which includes boot order as a part of it.

There could also be a problem here if the machine was setup with Fast Startup on (which is the default) and there is now a corruption in the OS hibernation file used to bring the machine back up with the OS state preserved.

In any case, it is a repeat key press at a rate of about once per second as the machine powers up that will eventually throw you into UEFI (or BIOS if the machine is an older one) during the startup process.

I Didn't explain it very good sorry ........One option is F2 to enter bios or F12 to enter setup that flashes up during the boot (I tried F12 just to see if It would show me a different screen) .

But neither of them take you to where they should all I get is the black screen with the message with both options .

But as I said I had to take it to repair shop so he will sort it  (hopefully)