Please Help
My Parents Computer Was Running Fine They Went Away For A Few Days <computer Turned Off> When They Came Back They Switched Machine On And Got Nothing. Computer Starts But Then Nothing,just A Blank Black Screen Windows Will Not Open They Are Running Windows Xp.
They Said A Message Came On Screeen
' THE FOLLOWING FILE IS MISSING OR CORUPT PLEASE RE-INSTALL'

WINDOWS ROOT >\ SYSTEM 32\HAL.D11

They Were Given The Computer And Have No Discs Or Anything

use this: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en

Instructions

1. Click the Download button on this page to start the download, or choose a different language from the drop-down list and click Go.
2. Do one of the following:
* To start the installation immediately, click Open or Run this program from its current location.
o NOTE: The installation program will prompt you to provide formatted, 1.44MB floppy disks onto which the installation program will copy its files.
* To copy the download to your computer for installation at a later time, click Save and choose a location on your hard disk for saving the file.

Additional Information
There are six Windows XP Setup boot floppy disks. These disks contain the files and drivers that are required to access the CD-ROM drive and begin the Setup process.

Creating the Setup Disks
When you download the Setup disks, the download contains only one large program file. When you run the downloaded file, it extracts the files. You receive the following prompt: This program creates the Setup boot disks for Microsoft Windows XP. To create these disks, you need to provide 6 blank, formatted, high-density disks.

Specify the Floppy Drive to Copy the Images To
Type the drive letter for the floppy disk drive (this is typically drive A). After you type the floppy disk drive letter, you see the following prompt:
Insert one of these disks into drive drive letter :. This disk will become the Windows XP Setup Boot Disk.
Press any key when you are ready.
When you press a key, the downloaded file starts extracting and copying the files. Continue inserting the blank disks as you are prompted to do so until all six disks are created. If the process is interrupted you must run the downloaded program file again to create all six disks.

Make sure to label each disk appropriately with the number that is specified by the program. You will have to use the disks in the correct order during the Setup process.

Using the Setup Disks
After you create all six disks, insert the first disk in the floppy disk drive, and then restart the computer. Note that the computer must be configured to boot from the floppy disk drive. In some cases, you may need to modify your computer's BIOS settings to do this.

The Setup process starts. Insert the other floppy disks as you are prompted to do so. Note that you will need to use the Windows XP CD-ROM to finish Setup.

next you need to copy that file to the windows directory (i dont think you need the CD for that, might be wrong though) i will tell you how to do that tomorrow (if jephree is on later, he will probably tell you what to do...), i am going to sleep now.... been a hard day today.

it would have been .DLL not .D11

Option 1:

Boot from your CD and follow the directions to start Recovery Console. Then:

Attrib -H -R -S C:\Boot.ini
DEL C:\Boot.ini
BootCfg /Rebuild
Fixboot

Option 2:

Boot from your CD and follow the directions below to start Recovery Console.

Insert the Setup compact disc (CD) and restart the computer. If prompted, select any options required to boot from the CD.
When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts; choose the repair or recover option by pressing R.

If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot system, choose the installation that you need to access from the Recovery Console.
When prompted, type the Administrator password. (if you didn't create one try pressing enter).

At the system prompt, type Recovery Console commands; type help for a list of commands, or help commandname for help on a specific command.

Most likely you will need to expand the file from the CD. The command would be expand d:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32\hal.dll. Substitute d: for the drive letter of your CD. Once you have expanded the file type "exit" to exit the Recovery Console and restart the computer.

it says "Boot from your CD" but you can enter recovery console from the 6 setup floppy boot disks (so i have been told, i havnt actualy tried it)

if that doesnt work, try this:

Remove your hard drive and install it in another computer with the same OS as a slave or D drive, so that you can copy an undamaged hal.dll file from that system to your hard drive. In this case Hal.dll may or may not be found in: D:\WINDOWS\System32 but regardless if found it will need to be replaced. A working copy of hal.dll will be found in: C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386. Copy that version of the file to: D:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386\hal.dll as well as the D:\WINDOWS\System32 folder; if it asks to overwrite say YES.

Hope this helps
Mike

Thanks For Help But Nothing Seemed To Work,im Not Sure We Did It Right.
Parents Have Been Told That The Hard Drive Is No Good!!!!!
So They Are Now Looking At A New Pc. They Have A Good New Monitor And Mouse And Keyboard They Just Need 'the Other Bit'.
All They Want It For Is To Surf The Net Store And Copy Photos And For The Grand Kids To Play Games. Any Suggestions As To Where They Should Look To Buy.


Thanks

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...&q=hard+drives

I like both Maxtor and Western Digital. You can find online or at any general computer store.

They need to check the speed and type of connection so that these match the motherboard.

You can also get a diagnostic that will boot from a floppy if you want to test the current drive:

Do you know the manufacturer of your hard drive?

You will find the major brand diagnostics listed here:

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

With a few others listed here:

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/