Help! XP won't boot

[Force Flow]

When I try to boot up XP Pro, I get this message:

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.

Now, I did try copying the hal.dl_ file off of the CD into the directory and renaming it "hal.dll" (Yes, I backed up the origional file before I did this). It didn't work when I replaced the file. So, I put the origonal hal.dll file back where it was.

What should I do now?

[not important]

Have you tried a "Repair" with the XP CD?

[Force Flow]

No. My system isn't booting off of the CD even though I have the CD drive as a boot device in the BIOS. How would I be able to access this from DOS? " X:\setup" ?

[Cricket]

See if the information in this link helps: HAL.DLL is missing or corrupt.

Or maybe this will help:

"HAL.DLL Missing or Corrupt

If you get an error regarding a missing or corrupt hal.dll file, it might simply be the BOOT.INI file on the root of the C: drive that is misconfigured

Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
Typically this will be #1
Type bootcfg /list to show the current entries in the BOOT.INI file
Type bootcfg /rebuild to repair it
Take out the CD ROM and type exit"

Cricket

[Force Flow]

Hmm... the boot.ini file looks okay. It points to the same location it did when I looked at it a few days ago. (it worked fine then)

I guess I'll try the repair function...

[jeresimo]

That's what I usually do REPAIR it from the XP CD once it wont boot. Ever since I had XP Pro I think I did 3 repairs already in a span of 2 years.

[Force Flow]

Hmm...

It doesn't want to boot from the CD. I think the mandrake linux boot menu is interfering.

I set all of my boot devices to CDROM, but the I still couldn't boot from the CD

I guess I'll try reformatting the drive, reinstall XP and reinstall Mandrake (correctly, this time)

[reboot]

If you still want to try it manually, use Winzip (or other archiver type app) and extract hal.dl_
You cannot simply rename it, it's a compressed file.