Hello - Computer is an AcerPower F1 This person's computer has come up with this error (hal.dll file missing from windows\system32) three times now. The computer is six months old. The first two times she took the computer to a shop and they wiped everything on the hard drive and reloaded XP Home from scratch. This is the third time and before I wipe everything I'm wondering if there's a way to repair it instead? I'm also wondering if anyone has any clues as to what is causing it? A hardware fault? She is reluctant to send it back to the shop where she bought it originally just yet as the store is about 300 miles away. I have tried an over the top installation but it tells me the C drive is corrupt... clue there maybe? I have tried copying a new hal.dll file to the system32 folder but it tells me access is denied. I've tried a windows repair but it doesn't even see the windows folder. Not sure what else to try. I can obviously hook up the HD to another computer as a slave to get any data but I'm reluctant to go to all that trouble just at the moment. She has all the original disks so it's not really a major to reinstall all original software but I am concerned about the fact it keeps happening. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. Tracey

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=hal.dll+&btnG=Search&meta=

Hi, thanks for the link. I did google already and read a few articles I didn't really comprehend too well so I thought if I asked here I might get some answers in layman's terms... hopefully.

Normally this is caused by the boot ini files being corrupted during a dual boot sequence. If your friend is trying to dual boot then the boot manager is corrupting the files for it to be happening that many times. The other instance is that the hal.dll file has either been purposely deleted either by the removal of a boot tweak program or some form of boot virus or possibly by some malicious spyware/malware that has someway attached itself to the hal.dll. One other issue is that the harddrive itself has some bad sectors right where that file is installed. If the file is actually missing, then it is reccommended that you do a reformat and reinstal. If it is a possible dual boot issue then it can be repaired through the repair consol, but since your friend probably has a manufacture's restore disc, then that is not possible as it requires a M$ orriginal installation disc. Hope that helps you a little. P.S. I would try to run checkdisk with fix option on that HDD as soon as you restore it back. IN THE MATTERS OF STYLE, swim with the current; in matters of principle, STAND LIKE A ROCK

Thanks lurkswithin - I'm suspecting faulty sectors on the hard drive perhaps might be the most likely of the problems you've suggested... It isn't a dual boot... so that's that one out... it could be a virus I guess... unusual that the exact same damage is done three times? Unless of course the person is mistaken about the error message the previous two times the hard drive was reformatted... or perhaps it wasn't formatted properly by the computer shop... Anyway, I'll give that hard drive a thorough going over before I re-install the OS. Thanks very much for your input... it's very much appreciated.

Your welcome, Glad I could help. IN THE MATTERS OF STYLE, swim with the current; in matters of principle, STAND LIKE A ROCK

try doing a systemfile check. this will scan your files and repair or replace any missing or corrupted windows system files. put your windows disk in the cd drive. go to run and type cmd then hit enter in the command box that comes up type: sfc /scannow don't forget the space before the /.