missing .dll

Hey guys, a bud of mine has a missing .dll file when he boots up his computer. The error message we get is:

<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll

The thing is when we put in the XP Pro cd and try to boot from it, it will say booting from cd.... but then it goes back to that error missing .dll file. Any suggestions before formating the sucker??
Anybody know what causes these various missing .dll files? I have ran across them myself and Im sure others have too.

Thanks guys!

Find someone else who has the same version of XP installed (if possible from the same CD), and the same service pack level etc..
then copy the offending DLL into place...


Sometimes open-heart surgery is performed best with a hammer and a chainsaw... especially in the non-elegant world of microsoft solutions

Hey Sahirh,
I can't even boot at all into windows. How would I copy that file? Unless your thinking of another way to do it. Let me know. Thanks.

These .dll are about as reliable as a stripper...they take care of you till you stop paying!

ZiPPy

Well you could just simply boot off a knoppix CD... www.knoppix.net
Or you could just put the offending hard disk into a working box as a slave....

The possibilities are endless..

Its a windows xp machine u can simply boot into the recovery console (pressing f8 at start up) ot copy the file from a floppy disk. see windows help for more info.

well base from experience this might have been caused by a malicious code...my box suffered the same thing...it is always looking for the hal.dll...the thing is even when the specific dll is copied to the system folder still you would realize that it would not work and would still prompt to the missing dll screen. upon my investigation to this problem, i have found out that somehow my system produced a new windows system folder with all the files that seem legitimate and this is where the system tries to boot from discarding your true system folder. i troubleshooted it by making my harmed HDD as a slave to a working one and deleted the system folder impostor..

by the way, be sure to make a backup of all your important files..you may be required to do a reformat...

hope this helps...