# <windows root>\system32\hal.dll



## BburgMom118 (May 26, 2005)

Hi!
I am new to this, so pls. excuse this novice for any and all mistakes .... thanking you in advance for your forbearance and patience. :smile: 

My problem:
My Sony Vaio computer with Window XP Media Edition 2004 will not boot due to ... either a missing or corrupt <windows root>\system32\hal.dll . 

That is the message on the monitor screen and it also says that I have to install missing .dll before Win can start. I do not have the original CD for Win Media Center since OS was preinstalled in computer.

I know I can rewrite the hard drive with the Systems Recovery Disc which I had made previously, but I have lots and lots of files and photos on my 250 Gig hard drive that I have no back up for. Please please help me boot Windows without having to rewrite my hard drive. I will be eternally thankful!!! :smile: 

I am writing this on my back-up computer which is a WinXP Home Edition.

Thank you! Thank you


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## Removed (May 14, 2005)

Can you boot into safe-mode via tapping the f8 key on system startup?


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## BburgMom118 (May 26, 2005)

Thanks, Sceptre, for your quick response! :smile: 
I don't know, but I did try F10 and it did nothing. If U will give me a minute, I will go try the F8 key now ....


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## Removed (May 14, 2005)

I just found this site where you can download the hal.dll file. Unzip it, place it on a floppy, boot up into safe-mode with command prompt. At the prompt type "A:". This should change the prompt to "A:>". Then type in either "copy A:\hal.dll C:\Windows\System32" or "move A:\hal.dll C:\Windows\System32". This oughta solve that hal.dll problem, however other DLLs may be missing. Try this and let us know if it works and/or if any other files are missing. :wink:

*EDIT:* If you can boot up into Safe-Mode regularly, without the command prompt, you can just browse to the C:\Windows\System32 folder and drag the hal.dll file from the floppy disk to the directory.

I'm off for the night..

Good Luck,
-Sceptre


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## BburgMom118 (May 26, 2005)

Screen now showing the following message!!!

"Please select boot device"

and following that are the 3 drives I can use,

What should I do now, please???? Thank you! :smile:


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## Terrister (Apr 18, 2005)

If you can get into safe mode, you might want to try a system restore.


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## BburgMom118 (May 26, 2005)

Sceptre and Terrister,
Thanks for your suggestions, but cannot get into safe mode, computer has only one OS ... Window Media Center, and whenever that tries to start up the missing or corrupted hal.dll message comes up, asking for me to reinstall, and since I cannot boot to get in .... I don't know how I can reinstall ??? :sad: 

Any and all ideas and suggestions will be most welcome and appreciated .... please .... Thank you! :smile: 

Would taking out the hard drive and using it as a "slave" on another computer work? and please, how can I do that? or where can I learn to do this? Will I be able to copy files onto other computer's hard drive?

THANK YOU THANK YOU .... to All!!! :smile: Will check back after work tomorrow for any suggestions. I wil be keeping my fingers crossed. :smile: 
Good night!


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## ReeKorl (Mar 25, 2005)

OK, you say you can't get into safe mode as all hitting F8 does is bring up a boot device selector, however try this:

Hit F8 repeatedly on startup. When the boot select menu comes up, select the normal device the computer boots from, then recommence pressing F8 again. If you actually get into windows and get the error it obviously hasn't worked, but this should get you to the safe mode menu.

Select Safe Mode from the menu (if it comes up) and allow the system to load. Copy the file from disk to the correct location (I'm assuming it's C:\Windows\System32\hal.dll ) and reboot normally. This should have sorted the problem.

If you still can't get into safe mode using the above steps, you can take the hard drive out and slave it to another machine. Let us know what the other machine has in it (ie hard drives/cd drives) and we'll talk you through putting the drive in the other machine.


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## Removed (May 14, 2005)

If you have a floppy drive available for use on the laptop:

Place a blank diskette in the floppy drive of a working computer, open My Computer, right-click on the floppy drive icon, select "Format...", then select "Create an MS-DOS startup disk". After you create the startup disk, if there's enough room on it, copy the hal.dll file directly onto it. If there isn't enough room, place the hal.dll file on another floppy disk. Insert the MS-DOS diskette into the other computer, bootup, and at the prompt type "A:". This should change the prompt to "A:>". Then type in either "copy A:\hal.dll C:\Windows\System32" or "move A:\hal.dll C:\Windows\System32". If you can't bootup from the floppy diskette, try going into your BIOS and changing the boot sequence so that the A: or Floppy drive is the first bootup device. To fget into your BIOS, tap either F2 or F3 at startup.

Good Luck,
Sceptre


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## Removed (May 14, 2005)

If you don't have enough room for hal.dll on the MS-DOS diskette, you can put it on another floppy and remove the MS-DOS diskette after you have the A:> prompt. Then you can insert the diskette with hal.dll on it and proceed to enter in *copy hal.dll C:\Windows\System32* or *move hal.dll C:\Windows\System32*.

If you can boot up into safe-mode with command prompt, you wouldn't have to create an MS-DOS diskette.


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## BburgMom118 (May 26, 2005)

Thank you All so very much for the suggestions! :smile: I so very much appreciate your taking time out to help. Unfortunately, I just got home and haven't had a chance to try them out. (I had forgotten that my youngest daughter's elementary school had a spring fun fair that I had volunteered to help with, and that we had to go to. Single parents don't have much of a life 4 themselves. :laugh: ) 

But I did want you all to know how very much I Appreciate Ur helping with this. Sceptre's suggestion with the DOS boot is what I am hoping will do the trick, since I have already tried getting into safe mode and that did not work.

Unfortunately, "Safe mode" still has to depend on Windows Media to boot and mine just keeps repeating the message about the missing or corrupted hal.dll file, and how I have to reinstall it. By the way, I had to use F5, to access the menu for "safe mode".

Thanks, Sceptre, for the Hal.dll download site. :smile: I have already done as U suggested and have that on floppy, and have also learned how to get to the A drive, by using F8. Now, will try the DOS startup suggestion ASAP. Will keep U updated.

Thank you to All again!!! :smile: I am So Glad there are kind people like Urselves out there!!! :smile:


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## BburgMom118 (May 26, 2005)

Hi! Sceptre: Tried the DOS startup ..... all worked till the part about the "copy A:\hal.dll C:\Windows\System32". :sad: 
The computer came back with: "Invalid drive specification"

When I tried: "copy A:\hal.dll C:\<Windows root>\system32", the computer came back with: "File Not Found"

When I tried to use "move" instead of "copy", I got "Bad Command or File Name".

Will very much appreciate any other suggestions, ideas, help ... without my having to use the hard drive rewrite option.

At least I am in DOS ..... is my C drive missing???

Thanks a Whole Bunch for trying ..... am keeping my fingers crossed for more solutions ... still hopeful .... :smile:


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## Removed (May 14, 2005)

If the prompt is *A:>* use this command *copy hal.dll C:\Windows\System32* or *copy hal.dll C:\Windows\System32*.

If this doesn't work, see if you can get the *C:>* prompt by entering in *C:*

I wonder if it can read your hard drive at all.

Good Luck!

*EDIT:* Be sure that the hal.dll file is directly on the floppy disk and not inside another folder on the disk.


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## BburgMom118 (May 26, 2005)

Sceptre, Thank You for not giving up on me! :smile: 
Have tried your last suggestions .... unfortunately, it's still coming up with the same messages as quoted in my last post. :sad: 

I have checked to make sure hal.dll is not in folder, but is by self on floppy.

As for "C:" command .... the message comes back, "invalid drive specification" .... does it mean my C drive is no longer readable?

Am still hoping to be able to save the files and photos on my hard drive .... hope U have more suggestions. ... :smile: 

Thank you, Sceptre! Have an Awesome Friday! :smile: Good Night! Will check back again tomorrow after work .... it's Friday!!! Yeah!!! :smile:


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## Removed (May 14, 2005)

If you have the Windows XP CD, insert it into your CD drive and restart the computer. When you see the following screen, hit "R":










The screen should switch from blue to black, and you should be asked which installation to log into. Select the #1 installation (it should be listed as *1: C:\Windows*) and hit enter. Next it'll ask for your administrative password. By default it's blank, so just hit enter and move on. Next you should get the *C:\Windows>* command prompt. Enter in the following commands:

*
Attrib -H -R -S C:\Boot.ini
DEL C:\Boot.ini
BootCfg /Rebuild
Fixboot
*

Good luck! If you run into any problems during any of this, I'll be checking in on Tech Support Forums often enough to spot anything.

-Sceptre


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## BburgMom118 (May 26, 2005)

Sceptre, Hi!
Unfortunately, no program CD, as the computer came with Windows Media Edition pre-installed ...... :sad: 

Any other suggestions ......??? Thank you for not giving up on me! :smile:


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## Removed (May 14, 2005)

Hmm.. This might not be the best idea.. I'm not sure if it'd work.. But if you could find/borrow another Windows XP CD, you may be able to run the recovery console from it, regardless of whether it's Home, Pro, or Media Center.

I'll keep looking into other ideas..


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## ReeKorl (Mar 25, 2005)

Hang on... I'm pretty sure it won't work using the recovery console with a Home or Pro disc, you'd have to do it using a MC disc. However, if you can find a MC edition disc then it should work fine (plus there aren't any copyright violations in doing this either).

Failing that, can you take the hard drive out of the computer and put it in another as a secondary drive to allow you to copy the file across that way? If you need help doing this, post back and we can guide you through doing this.


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## Removed (May 14, 2005)

Yeah.. If you can't access the C: drive from the MS-DOS startup disk and you can't get into any instance of safe-mode, then it appears that you will have to slave the drive to another machine and resolve the problem that way.

Tapping the F8 key at startup should give you a screen like this:










Does it?


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## BburgMom118 (May 26, 2005)

Thanks for keeping the suggestions comingSceptre and ReeKorl!  

Yes, I can get into the Windows Advanced Options Menu, however, I have tried ALL of the options and none have worked ..... will still take me back to OS to boot, and U know the rest .......

I can also get into the computer BIOS with F2, and have set everything back to default, however, I did enable 32-bit data transfer ...... or should I have left this disabled, as per default setting? 

I finally called up Sony Tech Support earlier this evening and the answer from a live service rep was that I have no option but to reformat the hard drive ..... he said that making my hard drive into a slave drive on another computer will Not work, as one of my boot files (hal.dll) was corrupted, and that I might cause damage to the other computer's hard drive, plus I also asked the question about whether using a Full WinXP Media Center CD might work, and the reply was in the negative. Apparently, this will only cause a reformat of my hard drive. 

Does any of the above sound correct to U more computer savy guys out there? Is there truly No options for me, but to reformat my drive and lose all data???? :sad:


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## Removed (May 14, 2005)

I think alot of the information Sony's tech support provided is misleading.

If you had the Windows XP Media Center CD, this problem would be easily fixed. Slaving the drive to another computer would have two important results: 1. You could transfer any important pictures, media, and documents onto the hard drive of the other computer; 2. You would be able to replace the hal.dll file, though doing this is no guarantee that the system would start up properly. The problem may go much deeper into your boot record. Backing up the important files on the hard drive and replacing the hal.dll file would help us make progress. 

If worse comes to worse, you'd be able to back up your important data and then be forced to reinstall the operating system. Reinstalling the operating system without a Windows Media Center CD would be impossible. You'd have to procure another copy of it.

If you're up to slaving the drive to another machine, let us know and we'll guide you through it.

Still here..
Sceptre


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## ReeKorl (Mar 25, 2005)

I don't usually have a go at tech support lines, but I don't think that guy said one thing right!

It doesn't matter that the boot file is corrupted, as it wouldn't be used. Damaging the other hard drive is only possible if you have a virus on your system and you run a file infected with said virus on the second machine. Using a full CD could reformat your drive, but it can also do a repair install. 

Give us a shout and we'll give you directions.


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## BburgMom118 (May 26, 2005)

Thanks, Sceptre and ReeKorl! :smile: I am Hopeful again!!! :smile: 
Will much appreciate Ur guiding me through the "slaving" process, since I have never done this b4.

Gentlemen, again, my heartfelt Thanks for Ur kind guidance and patience! 
Will check back later, & get started on it tomorrow! :smile:


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## Removed (May 14, 2005)

To slave the laptop hard drive to your desktop PC, you'd need to open up the bottom of your laptop, remove the hard drive, and buy a special adapter to connect it to your desktop machine. The adapters are fairly cheap.

The following are links to pages where you can buy the adapter:

http://www.cablesonline.net/25hdmounkitw.html

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=906&sku=17705

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=906&sku=39994

The last link is for an adapter that wouldn't require you to open up your desktop PC or set any jumpers. I don't really think it's worth the price though.

I've never actually slaved a laptop hard drive to a desktop machine before, but this is how it's done. Perhaps someone with a little more experience in this area could clairfy anything I've written.

If you're up for buying the adapter, when you get it, we'll walk you through the process of actually slaving the hard drives.


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## BburgMom118 (May 26, 2005)

Thanks for the info, Sceptre! But my other computer is NOT a labtop, but another desktop with Win XP Media Centre Edition 2004 OS. Will much appreciate your help in transfering data from inaccessible hard drive to this other computer's hard drive.

Again, THANK YOU for hanging in there!  :smile:


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## whodat (Mar 13, 2005)

hi
if your intent on slaving your busted drive....unplug both machines and touch the metal case to eliminate static .....

on your bad machine, remove the hard drive...4 phillips screws, 1 power cable, 1 data cable

on your good machine, unplug the cd rom [ assuming its a slave drive ]

on your bad hard drive, move the jumper pin in the back, to the slave position.

install to the cable and power cable that your cd rom goes to, to your bad hard drive.
[ i even let the drive hang there ]

turn on good machine, through windows explorer copy and paste your info.

reverse procedure when done --good luck


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## Johnny Faster (Apr 25, 2005)

*A Crock...*



> he said that *making my hard drive into a slave drive on another computer will Not work, as one of my boot files (hal.dll) was corrupted, and that I might cause damage to the other computer's hard drive*, plus I also asked the question about whether using a Full WinXP Media Center CD might work, and the reply was in the negative.


That sounds like a big crock of dookie, if you asked me. How thick was his Punjabi accent, and how obvious was it that he was reading directly from a script on the computer monitor in front of him.

If these guys can't get your hall.dll situation repaired, I think your best option is to do what the script-reader said not to. I've re-configured many Master, primary boot hard-drives into secondary slaves and have never had a single problem. Even a cave-man could do it.

You really SHOULD get away from the goofy WinXP Media Center O/S, and get a "vanilla" WinXP Home Install disk from one of your Neighbors that have upgraded to XP Pro. (Thinking in terms of single motherhood and the assumed lack of financial largesse.)

While some people would like to believe that O/S installation disks are a single-shot proposition (this is to the peanut gallery), they are your personal property and can be bought and sold at will, Used. The only "grounds" Microsoft has is if two different Users (purchasers) are using the same disk. (Which means husbands and wives must purchase separate disks, and can never use each other's computers without breaking the law.)

A good, workable used WinXP disk should go for about $20.00.

In short, my good woman, heed these magic words of wonderous permission.

*Go to a GARAGE SALE.*

I think you said you had 2 other HD's in the box. What are there sizes (in terms of capacity). I am wondering if you have the space available to install WinXP on another drive. If not, you can also buy Hard Drives, USED.

(Wonder why no one ever gets all uptight when people share each others Hard Drives, but their undies get ALL WADDED UP when you even think about moving a O/S install disk?)


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## skate_punk_21 (Mar 28, 2005)

Damn guys, i wish id looked here first before I went back to factory Settings a few months back. I had the identical problem on my laptop

Following the instructions from whodatknocking on install your damaged drive to a working computer, you could also try this approach, might be a little easier. Just replace the appropriate Dll file...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

***(all references to “D:\” are the Slave Hard drive (damaged windows))***

Boot your system and enable - Explorer\tools\folder options

check the following:
Display contents of system folders. 
Show Hidden Files and Folders.

UN-check Hide Protected OS Files.

Go to “My Computer” Right click on “D:\” select SEARCH “D:\”

run a search “All or Part of the File Name” = “hal”

Hal.dll may or may not be found in “D:\WINDOWS\System32” either way it’s no good.

++COPY THE WORKING HAL FILE THAT YOU HAVE ON DISK (FLOPPY OR OTHER) and Paste it to the directory on "D:\" where you found hal.dll, if it asks to overwrite say YES.
++If no hal.dll file is found, copy working file to “D:\WINDOWS\System32” folder.

You may now un-do the changes made to Explorer\tools\folder options to RE-Hide files.
Shut Down the computer.

Remove the 2nd Drive and reinstall it to its own tower as Master.

You should Now be able to boot the computer up as if nothing ever happened.

With the exception that it will prompt you to reinstall some drivers, Just say YES and let it auto detect …THEY ARE ALREADY THERE. And will setup fine.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hope I could help! :wink: 
SP21


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## Removed (May 14, 2005)

Hey! Sorry, I was under the impression that it was a laptop we were talking about here. I'm busy thinking about the Sony Vaio laptop I saw in Best Buy that's gonna keep me working all summer just to afford. :grin: 

To slave a the hard drive to your other computer:

Open up both computer cases.

Locate and remove the hard drive in the computer with the problem, disconnecting all cables.

On the back of the drive, locate the section with the jumper. It should be between the data jack and the power jack.

On top of the drive should be a label. It should show you the drive jumper diagram, show you the drive jumper diagram. It might look something like this: Click Here

If the jumper is set to Master or Cable Select (CS), leave it as it is. If it's set to Slave, change it to Cable Select or Master.

Unplug the cables from the CD drive in your working computer, plug the cables into the hard drive you just took out of the other computer.

Start up your machine and look for the hard drive in My Computer. If it doesn't show up in My Computer, let us know and we should be able to work around this fairly easily.

The following picture may also be helpful in demonstrating setting the jumpers:










After you've successfully slaved the drive, we'll walk you through the rest if you need help.

Cheers..
Sceptre


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## Capthomer7 (Jun 8, 2005)

Hi I'm new here and the reason I joined is because of the same reason for this topic. I have the exact same problem and have searched to find a legitimate copy of windows xp media center edition but according to the microsoft website, it isnt sold in software. My question was if I could somehow find a "bootleg" copy of this, how would I go about fixing the proble? If I'm not able to, I'm not a fan of taking apart my computer to slave my hard drive so are there any other suggestions that would allow me to use my computer in the same manner that I do now? Thanks for your help.


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## Johnny Faster (Apr 25, 2005)

*New Problem*

Capthomer,

Start a new thread for your problem, and people will help you with it. Post your basic system spec's, your make/model/capacity of HD and the exact nature of your problem. Also any odd "symptoms" that might help a tech to narrow down the list of possiblities.


EDIT***

Just read your post a little closer. Do not mention "bootleg" or any other illicit/illegal use of copyrighted software. You have already violated 2 Forum rules, and have not yet even asked the question properly.


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