Winxp cannot boot - missing files message

This might be one of (at least) three things.

1) Your hard drive might be going bad and is causing access problems to root OS files

2) A virus is playing havoc with the boot files

3) The OS has become corrupt in come way

I'd suggest rebooting a few times and also checking the cabling inside the machine going to haard drive, especially if you moved the machine recently.

When this fails (!), try reinstalling XP using the REPAIR option, and then immediately running antivirus and OS update process and DISKCHECK to figure out what caused the problem. If all else fails, try a clean OS install after backing up your personal files.

Good luck...

Just make sure you get these files on your computer.
Download hal.dll from here:

http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?hal

Place it in windows\system32 folder.

Now go to the drive you have windows installed in (C:/ for example), and then create a new file, name it boot.ini.

Open boot.ini with notepad, and enter this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS /usepmtimer
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer
Save boot.ini now, and try booting your computer, it should work.