Hal.dll file missing, can't boot from xp disc as error states hard drive cannot be detected

Causes of the missing or corrupt hal.dll error include, naturally, a damaged hal.dll DLL file or a hal.dll file that has been deleted or moved from its intended location. Additional causes may include a damaged or missing boot.ini file or possibly a physically damaged hard drive.

To fix it:
1) Restart your PC, sometimes the hall.dll error could be an error itself and your PC should boot up fine.
2) Go into the BIOS by pressing the Delete key as the laptop boots. Then navigate to disk boot priority and make sure this is set to your main hard drive (the one that has Windows installed on it). Save and exit the BIOS. Sometimes if you have a USB flash drive/Pen drive or external hard drive it may automatically switch the boot priority to that.
If these two quick steps don't fix the problem then head over to here and continue reading up about repairing the boot.ini file.

Resolution

1. Restart the PC. The hal.dll error could be a fluke.

2. Check for proper boot order in BIOS. You might see the hal.dll error if the boot order in BIOS is first looking at a hard drive other than your main hard drive.

Note: If you've recently changed your boot order or recently flashed your BIOS, this may be what's causing your problem.

3. Run Windows XP System Restore from a command prompt. If this doesn't work or you're receiving the hal.dll error message before you're able to complete this process, move on to the next step.

4. Repair or replace the boot.ini file. This will work if the cause of the problem is actually Windows XP's boot.ini file and not the hal.dll file, which is often times the case.

Note: If repairing the boot.ini does correct the hal.dll issue but the problem reappears after a reboot and you've recently installed Internet Explorer 8 in Windows XP, uninstall IE8. In this specific situation, IE8 could be the root cause of your hal.dll problem.

5. Write a new partition boot sector to the Windows XP system partition. If the partition boot sector has become corrupt or isn't properly configured, you may receive the hal.dll error.

6. Recover data from any bad sectors on your hard drive. If the physical part of your hard drive that stores any part of the hal.dll file has been damaged, you're likely to see errors like this.

7. Restore the hal.dll file from the Windows XP CD. If the hal.dll file is truly the cause of the problem, restoring it from the original Windows XP CD may do the trick.

8. Perform a repair installation of Windows XP. This type of installation should replace any missing or corrupt files. Continue troubleshooting if this does not resolve the issue.

9. Perform a clean installation of Windows XP. This type of installation will completely remove Windows XP from your PC and install it again from scratch.

Note: While this will almost certainly resolve any hal.dll errors, it is a time consuming process due to the fact that all of your data must be backed up and then later restored.

Important: If you can't gain access to your files to back them up, you should understand that you will lose them all if you continue with a clean installation of Windows XP.

10. Test the hard drive. If all else has failed, including the clean installation from the last step, you're most likely facing a hardware issue with your hard drive but you'll want to test it to be sure.

If the drive fails any of your tests, replace the hard drive and then complete a "new" installation of Windows XP.

I am going to start with the assumption you have already tried to reboot, then next choices from there go kinda like this...

Run windows XP restore from command prompt. (From safe ,mode type C:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe and press Enter. If this doesn't work or you're receiving the hal.dll error message before you're able to complete this process, move on to the next step.

Replace the boot.ini file (run msconfig) This will work if the cause of the problem is actually Windows XP's boot.ini file and not the hal.dll file, which is often times the case.

Note: If repairing the boot.ini does correct the hal.dll issue but the problem reappears after a reboot and you've recently installed Internet Explorer 8 in Windows XP, uninstall IE8. In this specific situation, IE8 could be the root cause of your hal.dll problem.

Right click on c: drive, click on properties, then tools, click on the error checking button, the put a checkmark in each box, Click start and it may say it needs to run on next reboot click OK the reboot. The physical part of your hard drive that stores any part of the hal.dll file has been damaged, you're likely to see errors like this.

Run a repair install of the operating system. This type of installation should replace any missing or corrupt files. Continue troubleshooting if this does not resolve the issue.

CauseCauses of the "missing or corrupt hal.dll" error include, naturally, a damaged hal.dll DLL file or a hal.dll file that has been deleted or moved from its intended location. Additional causes may include a damaged or missing boot.ini file or possibly a physically damaged hard drive.
Resolution

1. Restart the PC. The hal.dll error could be a fluke.
   
   
2. Check for proper boot order in BIOS. You might see the hal.dll error if the boot order in BIOS is first looking at a hard drive other than your main hard drive.
   
   Note: If you've recently changed your boot order or recently flashed your BIOS, this may be what's causing your problem.
   
   
3. Run Windows XP System Restore from a command prompt. If this doesn't work or you're receiving the hal.dll error message before you're able to complete this process, move on to the next step.
   
   
4. Repair or replace the boot.ini file. This will work if the cause of the problem is actually Windows XP's boot.ini file and not the hal.dll file, which is often times the case.
   
   Note: If repairing the boot.ini does correct the hal.dll issue but the problem reappears after a reboot and you've recently installed Internet Explorer 8 in Windows XP, uninstall IE8. In this specific situation, IE8 could be the root cause of your hal.dll problem.

Hello,

• "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."
  
  
• "<Winnt_root>\System32\Hal.dll missing or corrupt:
  Please re-install a copy of the above file."
  
  
• "Cannot find \Windows\System32\hal.dll"
  
  
• "Cannot find hal.dll"

The "missing or corrupt hal.dll" error displays shortly after the computer is first started. Windows XP has not yet fully loaded when this error message appears. CauseCauses of the "missing or corrupt hal.dll" error include, naturally, a damaged hal.dll DLL file or a hal.dll file that has been deleted or moved from its intended location.Additional causes may include a damaged or missing boot.ini file or possibly a physically damaged hard drive.

Please let me know you have any further questions or concerns.

Thanks.

Restart the PC. The hal.dll error could be a fluke.
Check for proper boot order in BIOS. You might see the hal.dll error if the boot order in BIOS is first looking at a hard drive other than your main hard drive.
Note: If you've recently changed your boot order or recently flashed your BIOS, this may be what's causing your problem.
Run Windows XP System Restore from a command prompt. If this doesn't work or you're receiving the hal.dll error message before you're able to complete this process, move on to the next step.
Repair or replace the boot.ini file. This will work if the cause of the problem is actually Windows XP's boot.ini file and not the hal.dll file, which is often times the case.
Note: If repairing the boot.ini does correct the hal.dll issue but the problem reappears after a reboot and you've recently installed Internet Explorer 8 in Windows XP, uninstall IE8. In this specific situation, IE8 could be the root cause of your hal.dll problem.
Write a new partition boot sector to the Windows XP system partition. If the partition boot sector has become corrupt or isn't properly configured, you may receive the hal.dll error.
Recover data from any bad sectors on your hard drive. If the physical part of your hard drive that stores any part of the hal.dll file has been damaged, you're likely to see errors like this.
Restore the hal.dll file from the Windows XP CD. If the hal.dll file is truly the cause of the problem, restoring it from the original Windows XP CD may do the trick.
Perform a repair installation of Windows XP. This type of installation should replace any missing or corrupt files. Continue troubleshooting if this does not resolve the issue.
Perform a clean installation of Windows XP. This type of installation will completely remove Windows XP from your PC and install it again from scratch.
Note: While this will almost certainly resolve any hal.dll errors, it is a time consuming process due to the fact that all of your data must be backed up and then later restored.

for that you need winxp bootabler disk.
Tehn boot your computer with tht and go to recoverry console.
Then type in command prompt "chkdsk /r"
then press "y"
then it fixc error on harddisk.
Then after completing it restart your computer and boot with harddisk then it ok.

There's actually a number of reasons why these annoying little DLL errors happen, but the most common, is caused when new programs are installed over all old ones and the old ones are not completely uninstalled 100%, causing registry pile ups and of course, getting a .DLL error messages.

Another reason, is damage that's been done by malware/spyware/adware programs, attaching themselves to your PC and wrecking havoc, deleting crucial DLL files from your PC.

The hal.dll file is created during install from 5 other dlls. HAL is the Hardware Abstraction Layer and it's the interface between the system drivers and the actual hardware.

Copying hal.dll will not resolve the problem.

A lot of times the file will be reported missing due to corruption of the boot sector or of the file system

Causes of the "missing or corrupt hal.dll" error include, naturally, a damaged hal.dll file or a hal.dll file that has been deleted or moved from its intended location.

Additional causes may include a damaged or missing boot.ini file or possibly a physically damaged HDD.

Suggested remodies-

1. Restart the PC. The hal.dll error could be a fluke.

2. Check for proper boot order in BIOS. You might see the hal.dll error if the boot order in BIOS is first looking at a hard drive other than your main hard drive.
Note: If you've recently changed your boot order or recently flashed your BIOS, this may be what's causing your problem.

3. Run Windows XP System Restore from a command prompt. If this doesn't work or you're receiving the hal.dll error message before you're able to complete this process, move on to the next step.

4. Repair or replace the boot.ini file. This will work if the cause of the problem is actually Windows XP's boot.ini file and not the hal.dll file, which is often times the case.

5. Write a new partition boot sector to the Windows XP system partition. If the partition boot sector has become corrupt or isn't properly configured, you may receive the hal.dll error.

6. Restore the hal.dll file from the Windows XP CD. If the hal.dll file is truly the cause of the problem, restoring it from the original Windows XP CD may do the trick.

7. Perform a repair installation of Windows XP. This type of installation should replace any missing or corrupt files. Continue troubleshooting if this does not resolve the issue.

8. Perform a clean installation of Windows XP. This type of installation will completely remove Windows XP from your PC and install it again from scratch.

Note: While this will almost certainly resolve any hal.dll errors, it is a time consuming process due to the fact that all of your data must be backed up and then later restored.

Important: If you can't gain access to your files to back them up, understand that you will lose them all if you continue with a clean installation of Windows XP.

9. Replace the hard drive. Finally, if all else has failed, including the clean installation from the last step, you're most likely facing a hardware issue with your hard drive.

10. Perform a new installation of Windows XP after installing the new hard drive.

I have not tried it - but HERE is a free program purporting to fix the error.


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This actually sounds like a faulty power supply to me.
The Hard drive not being detected will be due to the rest of the system sucking the power to start itself (motherboard goes first), then when the hard drive digs in and tries, there isn't enough there. Suddenly the hard drive dosn't exist.
Go into setup, power has stabilised, HDD gets powered in the next cycle after exiting the bios, but the rest of the system dosn't need to draw as much power since it is active and stable and the hard drive is detected finally.

Now with the system running, the system is unstable due to the power requirements of everything in there eating it.
Even the beep pattern fits the profile, the next big power ****** would have seen to that, the video card.

Get your hands on a decent 450-550w power supply.

probably corrupted operating system files. i'd suggest doing a fresh reinstall of windows xp. if the problem continues then get a new hard drive.