Backstory first. On Monday, about 10 AM, I heard everything in the house turn on, this was probably due to some power outage. My laptop is connected to a surge protector as is my brother's desktop is also. When I came home later that evening, my laptop greeted me with a wonderful message

"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."

The first thing I did was look around for my "Windows XP Home Edition SP2" CD. What I did as follows:

1. Pressed [ESC] on startup to boot with the CD first.
2. Let the CD load up all that crap and then pressed [ENTER] to check the Windows installation.
3. [F8] to agree to the terms.
4. [R] to repair.
5. All done, Windows starts up fine at 90% capacity (a lot of programs were fragmented)

Day 2 (Tuesday); after I came home I received the hal.dll error again, so I repaired with the CD again.

Day 3 (Wednesday); again... But now I wanted to figure this out.

Using several websites that I googled (please don't give me more websites to look at, since I probably have seen it or tried those methods). In order for me to access a command prompt, instead of pressing [ENTER] to view my Windows installations, I just press [R] first. Then I select the Windows installations.

Method 1:

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

This method doesn't work because my computer doesn't seem to recognize the parameter "Attrib." If it counts for anything, I'm stuck in the "C:\Windows" directory.

Method 2:

BootCf /rebuild
Y
"Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition"
/fastdetect

That really didn't do anything. Rather, this seemed to just give me multiple boot choices that all lead to the "hall.dll" error again (probably if it works again, I'll need to ask you guys about how to reset that back to what it was).

Method 3:

expand D:\i386\hal.dl_ C:\windows\system32\hal.dll

I got the message, "Could not create file hal.dll." So, knowing that didn't work, I'll use a work around...

Method 4:

copy hal.dl_ C:\Windows\system32
rename hal.dl_ hal.dll

Thinking that would work, it didn't. I'm able to load the OS loading screen (Windows XP logo in a black screen with 3 blue bars moving from right to left) just to let the screen flicker and then freeze. Tried it a bunch of times, always at about 3 seconds into the loading. Yeah, it got further, but useless whatsoever.

Method 5:
Basically, a combination of what I did first and Method 4. After repairing the OS, I searched for "hal.dll." It only came up with a few results, the "system32" folder was not one of them. I noticed they were all 103 kb, so I figured, "hey, they're all the same." So I copied one into the system32 folder and went to bed.

-----

That brings us to today. It hung on the Windows loading screen. It seems as though the "hal.dll" on my Windows XP SP2 CD isn't functioning correctly. Also, after repairing again, I noticed that there was a 136kb hal.dll file in the system32 folder. However, the only thing I've done from when I repaired my installation to now is looking up information on the web (using FireFox 3.0.5). I kept a window open in the system32 folder to constantly check what happens. Apparently, after repairing the installation, Windows was downloading some sort of an update. After watching some television and eating, I went back to check on my "hal.dll" file. It was gone! As of right now, I'm downloading the SP3 update again, hopefully I can update and restore the file without needing to repair the OS everytime I want to start up the laptop.

All...I really want to do at this moment is be able to use Microsoft Word to do some work, but I can't even install it without needing to repair XP each time which pretty much renders the installation useless.

Aside from the initial cause of the missing/corrupted file "hal.dll," the secondary cause for it to continually disappear may have been due to the SP2 Windows Update. Although, not a confirmed cause, immediately after repairing the Windows OS (SP2), I unplugged the ethernet cable and manually updated to SP3 (.exe file). Restarting the computer after that proved successful. The 132 kb "hal.dll" remained in the "system32" folder and Windows no longer hung at the loading screen.

However, due to the initial repair of this file, a majority of my files were too fragmented (mainly the programs). Even though the best way to repair a missing/corrupted "hal.dll" on a Windows XP system is to immediately repair and update to the latest service pack (SP3), resuming my daily work on this laptop proved to be more difficult. If anything, repairing gives me a chance to transfer whatever is important to me.

Though there's a "fix," the degree of damage to a missing/corrupted "hal.dll" and a repaired XP OS, I decided to reformat the hard drive. That is all...

(Topic can be closed...I guess?)

Sorry for the delayed response but I was just going to suggest a Repair Install. You apparently did a Clean Install.

For future reference you can Repair Install and retain your data and programs.

This is not to be confused with the Repair options you were trying.


You could try a Repair Install as opposed to repairing the current install.

A Repair Install will totally reinstall XP but should not affect your programs or files.

Repair Install XP
--------------------------------------------------
1) Boot with the Windows XP CD and at the Setup Screen press the Enter key

2) You will be taken to the Windows XP Licensing Agreement. After reading the agreement press F8 to proceed

3) The next screen gives you the option to do a fresh (clean) install or to "Repair the selected Windows XP installation." Press "R".

4) Windows XP will copy the necessary files to your Hard Drive to begin the installation and will then reboot. You will see the message that informs you to "Press any key to boot the CD". Do Not press any keys this time just wait a few seconds and the Windows Startup Screen will be displayed. Following this you will be greeted by the Windows XP Setup Screens.

5) When Setup has completed you should find all of your previously installed applications and settings are intact.


You will need to reload all Service Packs and Windows Updates.