Corrupted File Makes Computer Not Start!

[dmorgan89]

Windows cannot start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<windows root>&#092;system32&#092;hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.


this is what pops up in front of a black screen when i turn on my computer.

ok i turn on my computer, my compaq screen comes up and right after that... what i described above with the hal.dll file happens. I have windows xp professional and i have a windows xp professional sp1 cd. I can&#39;t get the windows xp cd to boot at all. i can press f8 after the compaq screen and get my safe mode options and excetera, but after i select one the computer just restarts and the error message above with the hal.dll file appears. How do i re-install this file? How do i get my comptuer working again? help?

[4th gen]

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm

[dmorgan89]

thanks 4 gen, but as i was reading the site i saw things like:

go to start -> run -> go to msconfig and excetera. i can&#39;t get into windows. the only thing i see when i start my computer is compaq then the black screen with the error i explained above. how do i get anything to boot?

what do you think i can do?

[tesco]

get it to boot from cd by going into ur bios and setting it to bootfrom cd before booting from hard drive. then put in ur cd and choose to do a repair isntall.

[dmorgan89]

i&#39;ve done that but the cd still won&#39;t boot.

[h121589]

Safe Mode

[dmorgan89]

tried... won&#39;t work.

[dmorgan89]

doesn&#39;t matter what i do. after my compaq screen if goes straight into the error. i can&#39;t boot into windows. i can&#39;t boot from my windows xp professional cd. the only thing i can do is get into bios. i can press f8 and get into the place where it gives me the option to go into safe mode but when i select anything it restarts my computer and goes straight into the error.

[dmorgan89]

i went through some forums and found this. i think this is the solution to my problem but i dont understand it very well. can anyone run me through this is easy terms. one thing we have to remember is i don&#39;t have a functional floppy disk drive. but i do have a cd rom drive.

Re: corrupt system32&#092;hal.dll file
Shilo you can do it through the bios. If you can&#39;t get into the bios by hitting delete when the dell screen flashes, your bios is messed up. Access to that has nothing to do with the operating system. Open the case and look for the round flat silver battery on the mother board. near it you will see a small plastic jumper with one bare pin sticking up next to it. It will say "Clear CMOS jumper. 1-2 normal, 2-3 clear" or something like that. Unplug the machine from the wall. Remove the battery. Wait for one minute then replace the battery. Remove the jumper. You will see it was attached to the center pin and the pin on the other end. Move the jumper so it is on the center pin, and the pin that was bare before. Leave it there for 1 full minute or more. Do the battery thing again.Then take the jumper off and put it back on in the original position. Plug the machine back in. When the Dell screen comes up hit delete and go into the bios. A blue screen. Highlight Advanced CMOS features, hit enter go in there and change the boot order so the CDROM is first boot device. If you can get the full version CD Install Disk to fire up, DON"T try to reinstall the operating system yet. You will lose all your data. You probably have a boot sector virus that is causing all this sh*t to happen. The battery jumper thing hopefully cleared it out of the bios.Go to this link. It is from Micro&#036;oft and gives you step by step instructions on how to fix a corrupted boot.ini file. If you can do that you may get this thing up and running again. If so do some virus scans. Post back if you need help or don&#39;t understand something. You may need to reset fail safe settings in the bios before changing the boot order. You&#39;ll see that option in the Bios menu window.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...4&Product=winxp (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184&Product=winxp)


does anyone understand this? remember i have a compaq also. not a dell. but i dont think it matters.

[delphin460]

is your xp cd an original , or a copy?

do you have the original restore cd that came with your compaq

i think compaq have a different key to open the bois, try f1 / f2 or escape

you will need to get into the bios to change the boot order, so it boots from the xp cd first

[peat moss]

If you can&#39;t boot from cd. Buy a used floppy drive and hook it up. Your compaq probably came with floppy recovery disk , because it has a hidden recovery partition on the hard drive. Or use a win 98 boot disk to fdisk then format and reinstall. I say this because your floppy is hooped? A used one is about &#036; 10.00 canadian. Then change to boot from cdrom. But try Delphin&#39;s suggestion first you should be able to change boot order from bios . Enter bios? http://www.burningvoid.com/iaq/compaq-bios.html



Edit: Compaq &#39;s are funny some are press f10 , f11 or ?

[dmorgan89]

i&#39;ve been getting into the bios. it&#39;s f10 and it was already making the cd-rom boot first by default. i&#39;ve tried switching to hard drive and then back to cd-rom, but it still doesn&#39;t boot.

[cwctv]

If you can&#39;t boot to your Cd disc go here and make another disc which will be bootable.

http://www.betaplace.co.uk/bootcd.asp

[peat moss]

Originally posted by dmorgan89@15 April 2004 - 11:55
i&#39;ve been getting into the bios. it&#39;s f10 and it was already making the cd-rom boot first by default. i&#39;ve tried switching to hard drive and then back to cd-rom, but it still doesn&#39;t boot.
Have you tryed clearing the cmos?