First time user, lost with the HAL.DLL problem

Can anyone help? I have a Win xp system with about 84 GB worth of system files and data on my internal 120GB IDE drive. I backed up the entire C Drive to an image file on an external 250GB USB drive using True Image 10. I had a large backup image and 3 smaller images representing the changes over the course of a week. I decided to restore the image from the external drive after my AV software (Trend) went a little crazy after a power loss. At about 80% restored, TI indicated the image file was corrupted. I could no longer boot my system. With Acronis' help, I booted from the Acronis CD and restored (from the most recent backup file) each folder and file individually. Only 2 unimportant files were corrupted, I chose to ignore them. After taking 2 -3 days of tedious restoring, I get the corrupt HAL.DLL message if I try to boot from the C drive. Acronis TI 10 shows that all of the files and folders were restored, but the system can't boot from the C drive. I've tried reading the forums but I really didn't understand much of the technical talk I found there. Is there a solution to this mess? I cannot boot my computer with XP right now. Thank you very very much!

 

The easiest and quickest route here is if you have access to an XP CD and your Product ID.

Colin

 

If you don't have access to the XP cd you can download the DLL from here
http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?hal

 

I think this is likely to be a boot.ini problem.

Boot from your OS installation disk, and select "R" to Repair and identify your partition.

You can confirm your boot.ini settings by typing bootcfg /list

F.

 

Thank you folks for replying. My computer was supplied with a restore CD only, not a Win XP install disc, so I believe I am still stuck. Does anyone have another suggestion?

 

Texcritter for the benefit of quite a few of us, once he downloads the dll, where does he place it?
Pallius If you have access to another computer you can do a search in google for a "startup" disk and copy it to a floppy if you have a floppy drive or to a cd and do your repair. As foghorne staes it could be your boot up ini.
Good luck

 

If you don't have access to an install CD, does your restore CD only contain an image or perhaps an image + the I386 files?

What brand computer do you have? Someone here may have a similar or same system and know the answer to this.

I'd suggest trying to borrow someones XP CD as you won't be installing just getting to the recovery console.

Once in the recovery console you can log onto your system and we can check the contents or lack thereof of your boot.ini file.

Colin

 

I have an eMachines Intel-based PC and the CDs that came with it contain a Ghost image of the original configuration. There are no Windows CDs. If I can borrow an XP CD, i will go to the recovery console and try the R suggestion I see above. Thanks amigos.

 

Normally it is in c:\WINDOWS\system32
if you do a search on your computer it should come up with the folder it is in.

edit
(If anyone does replace it Don't overwrite it move the old dll to a temporary folder so you can go back if any problems)

 

I'd recommend this article once you get your hands an XP CD.
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=313

 

Thanks for the follow up ( where to find HAL.DLL) Texcritter I couldn't give him that info as I am running win 98se and if he is dead and can't do a search.
Also he can simply rename HAL.DLL to HAL.DLL.old
The other query I have is how does he now do this when his computer is dead? Would he try to find another computer with TI running and mount his image and do it that way. I would certainly like to know this for ( heaven forbid) if this should ever happen to me.
It would solve a lot of problems if the rescue disk had the "Mount" feature.

 

It is a possibility
Maybe if he boots up with the ATI CD he will be able to see his floppy drive and transfer it from there.
I'm not too conversant with this so I could be totally wrong

(Amber nectar calling)

 

I was hoping you knew because this has been plaguing my mind for a while, maybe if there is a way to do this somebody will post it here for us.

 

Perhaps I am wrong, but I think you guys are are barking up the wrong tree.

This is a boot up issue and nothing to do with a corrupt or missing file.

thomasjk's post seems much closer to where the problem is.


F.

 

I'm not a new user to Acronis Backup (I've been doing backups using 9.0 since May), but I'm having the HAL.DLL problem for the first time. My problem is a little different, but the end result is the same. Please allow me to paste in the exact message I just sent in to Acronis support:

I think I know exactly what the problem is, I just don't know how to fix it. I started Acronis 9.0 from the Acronis Loader prompt when my computer starts up. The problem is that I was starting up from hybernate rather than an off state. I then proceded to restore my whole hard disk, using the Acronis Secure Zone. The restore completed without errors, but on the restart, I began getting the message, "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll". I tried several other Acronis restores from different archive files, but with the same result. I suspect that this problem has something to do with having run an Acronis restore from hybernate instead of from a cold start. Now none of my restore points work and I'm not even able to get to the command prompt to replace the corrupted hal.dll file. Any suggestions? Please help!

 

Again. Forget replacement. Start by reading thomasjk's post. Your file is (most likely) neither corrupt nor missing, but is simply not where the boot strap is looking for it.

F.

 

Hi foghorne
You could be right but the articles I've read on this problem state that
when it is a boot problem the error message is the hal.dll file is missing or it can't find it, where as in this case it is saying it is corrupted. Could be the same circumstances I don't know, but if you can reinstall the DLL it would then eliminate it, and you can then concentrate on the boot.ini file.

What we realy need is the help of someone who is more experienced in this problem.

 

well,maybe the problem can be solved by a simple MBR restore/repair...try it and you will see...

 

Hi Texcritter

Just because the problem says that a file is missing or corrupt - it doesn't mean it is. It might mean that the system is just looking in the wrong place. In my experience - it normally is.


Edit.
I notice from MS's site that if this error did occur and a file did happen to be corrupt it would be Ntoskrnl.exe not HAL.DLL.

Causes are :
This behavior can occur if any or some of the following conditions are true:

• The Default value in the [Boot Loader] section of the Boot.ini file is missing or invalid.
• Windows XP is not installed in the location specified in the Boot.ini file.
• The Ntoskrnl.exe file is missing or damaged.
• The partition path in the Boot.ini file is not set correctly.
• General hardware failure.

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

I feel my advice (whether correct or not) is falling on deaf ears...so I'll leave you to it.

Good Luck - let us know how you get on.

F.

 

Texcritter, The article I referenced http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=313 specifically includes errors such as you are reporting here. However, you seem to be an expert so I'll leave it it a that.

 

I'm no expert far from it I thought I made that clear in post 17.
In the first instance I was merely responding to the first post indication
that he had a corrupt HAL.DLL file and informing him of where he could
get a replacement, I had no idea whether that would cure the problem and that was really as far as I wanted to be involved.
I don't have the knowledge to sort out boot problems, but further questions which were directed to me dragged me further into this debate.
Probably his best advice is as others have stated is to get access to a WIndows XP Disk and repair from there.
But jumping off the bandwagon isn't going to help Pallius

 

But jumping off the bandwagon isn't going to help Pallius How true!
Haven't heard from Pallius since post #8 are we to assume he has found and fixed his problems?

I am one of the people who "dragged you in to this post" Texcritter sorry, I saw what might be a chance to learn something and couldn't resist.
Please accept my apologies for that.

 

No apologies needed as far as I'm concerned, you asked quite ligitimate questions of which I tried to answer to the best of my knowledge (whether right or wrong).
It is nice of you to show concern, I appreciate that.

 

I am able to borrow a Win XP Pro install CD and try to run the repair tonight. My system is an XP Home system though. I don't know if the XP Pro disc will be a match with an XP Home system. Anyone know if this is viable?

I am still dead in the water and very appreciative of all the input.

 

This will work so long as you're only going as far as the console and wanting to use the fixmbr, fixboot, bootcfg /rescan commands etc.

If you need to do a repair install, then this will fail as your product ID will be a Home one and not a Pro.


Colin