Hal.dll missing or corrupt

[ftr]

I got an error when booting saying that a hall.dll is missing or corrupt. One of the answers I found in forums is I should boot with my winxp cd delivered with the pc and then the missing driver will be copied to the pc and the error can be treated (if the error is not due to a bad sector).

question:
the WinXp Home SP version on the CD is sp1, I use a XP home SP3 from October 2008. Can this create any difficulties ?
TIA
Frank

 

[rev_olie]

There usually wont be a problem. Its most likely to replace the service pack on install. However its sometimes known to be temperamental so may cause some files to "not be there" when they just have a new name.
I would make sure you backup and then repair just to make sure.
Also don't use the first repair process. Follow these instructions to the second on that will actually "repair" not replace.
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/How-to-repair-Windows-XP-t138.html

 

[Bobbye]

This may have some overlap to what rev-olie suggested:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=185301251

You can also put hall.dll is missing or corrupt in a Google search and get a plethora of information!

 

[LookinAround]

I got an error when booting saying that a hall.dll is missing or corrupt. One of the answers I found in forums is I should boot with my winxp cd delivered with the pc and then the missing driver will be copied to the pc and the error can be treated (if the error is not due to a bad sector).

question:
the WinXp Home SP version on the CD is sp1, I use a XP home SP3 from October 2008. Can this create any difficulties ?
TIA
Frank

As for your question "can this create difficulties" the answer is: yes and no!

Luckily for you if you just need basic boot-up recovery (which is your current issue) you should find the Recovery Console on your XP SP1 CD should work just fine. (see article i see Bobbye posted. Use the Recovery Console as it describes)

HOWEVER, if you ever need Windows startup recovery YOU NEED AN XP HOME SP3 CD!!! The first thing you should do upon recovering your system is building a new CD. (Look back here for an EDIT over next day or two as i need find the instructions again and will post them for you here. I will EDIT this post so look back at the bottom of the post once your computer is back up an running)

Note to: rev_olie: I don't believe you can count on a repair install to work if you have an SP1 CD and are trying to repair an SP3 installation. That's another situation when you want to build an SP3 CD before you need it!

Or if anyone reading has that info bookmarked and handy (about how to slipstream and create an SP3 CD), please post the url as well! ("Slipstreaming" is the process of combining a released version of Windows with updates from Service Packs and/or select Windows hot-fixes of your choice. The updated slipstreamed version is created on your hard drive. Which you then need convert to an "ISO" image which can then be burned to CD.