Missing/Corrupted hal.dll -- Unable to Boot CD

[Jyneefur]

Please forgive me in advance for not knowing specifics about my pc, but I am unable to actually boot it to look up this info.  

I have a Dell Dimension 9100, purchased directly from Dell slightly less than a year ago. It came pre-installed with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. I have never reformated, reinstalled Windows, made partitions, or anything of the sort.

My power went out for a brief moment today, long enough for my computer to restart. When it did, everything was "missing" on my pc... all the start menu folders (the only ones were the original Windows ones, ie Accessories, etc) contained nothing and just said "(Empty)". It said my hard drive had ~270 GB free space (it only had ~8 GB free space prior to the restart). An error message appeared that said something along the lines of "Some Windows files are missing and your system may not function correctly without them. Please put your Windows CD in the CD drive."

Unluckily for me, my power flickered again and my computer restarted before I could grab my Windows DVD. (I do use a surge protector, by the way.) Upon restart, Windows would not boot and would give the error: "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."

Attempting to boot the Windows Reinstallation DVD has proved futile, since I get the following error message when trying to boot from "Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive" with the Windows DVD in my CD or DVD drive (I tried both): "Selected boot device not available - strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility." I have changed the boot sequence to boot from CD first, and I tried to manually boot form CD via F12 Boot Device Menu.

I have attempted to boot in "Safe Mode" and "Safe Mode with Command Prompt", however as soon as I choose those options, the next screen asks me which OS I wish to use ("Windows (default)" is the only option), and then the next screen is my same missing hal.dll screen, and I can go no further.

Miscellaneous Info (maybe not even relevant):
Prior to this problem, I had uninstalled McAfee Center, as the Personal Firewall was causing complications with programs I was using. In addition to uninstalling all the McAfee products via Add/Remove Programs, I also scanned my registry for anything related to McAfee and deleted the entries (after backup), as was recommended for my problem with McAfee. This was the first restart since I deleted these programs/registry entries.

[soybean]

Well, I don't quite understand your problem in getting your computer to boot from the Windows Reinstallation DVD.  I think you're going to have to resolve that in order to get this fixed.  If the Windows recovery disc you have is truly a DVD, it won't work in a CD drive; only a DVD drive will read it.  If you access your BIOS and look closer at the options for first boot device, are you sure you've got the right thing?

Once you have figured out how to get the computer to boot from the DVD drive, here's a reference which my prove helpful: Langa Letter: XP's Little-Known 'Rebuild' Command.

By the way, you can avoid power fluctuation problems by getting a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply).  They have a battery to keep your computer running without interruption in event complete power failures and such brief power fluctuations as the ones that caused your problem.  I highly recommend a UPS.  

[Jyneefur]

Pertaining to the boot from DVD issue..

In my search for solutions, I've read on another forum about a person with a similiar problem (missing hal.dll and CD-drive not functioning), only with a notebook.  Unfortunately, he hasn't found a solution yet either.  So I at least know I'm not the only one with this issue.

In the Boot Sequence section, it lists the following:
1. Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive
2. Onboard or USB Floppy Drive   (not present)
3. Onboard SATA Hard Drive        (not present)
4. Onboard IDE Hard Drive          (not present)
5. Intel ARRAY

The CD-ROM Drive was listed last when I first went there, and I changed it to first on the list to boot.  (I read that machines use "CD-ROM Drive" as a general term that includes DVD Drives, as well... But there's something about Slave/Masters set for the drives, which I know nothing about because I don't know much about pcs. :-?)  My options in the Boot Sequence section are to include/exclude devices from this list (removes the number and doesn't try to boot, but keeps them on the list), remove selected device if not present, select a device, and change device order.  A friend had tried to help me via phone and said about selecting something on the list and finding more information/options about it.. but I don't have that option.  Am I looking in the wrong place?  This Boot Sequence section is a blue page, with other information such as System/Processor/Memory/PCI Info, Date/Time, Drives (listed is Diskette, Drive 0-5: SATA or PATA, and SATA Operation), Onboard Devices (listed is Integrated NIC/Audio, USB Controller), Video, Performance, Security, Power Management, Maintenance, and POST Behavior.

Any help regarding this matter before trying to fix the hal.dll problem would be greatly appreciated.  (Both problems occurred at the same, time, however, so I assumed they were affiliated somehow.)

[Dusty]

Seems you are going round in ever decreasing circles and the inevitable will happen.

While there is one self-confessed Dell "expert" who haunts this forum perhaps you would be better to post on a dedicated Dell forum about re-setting your bios to boot from the cd.

Good luck.

[soybean]

I agree with Dusty.  See http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums; for Dimensions PCs, go to http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums?category.id=dimension.

[Jyneefur]

Thank you for your responses.  They were greatly appreciated!

I talked to a Dell Technician via online chat, and the solution he gave was to use Dell System Recovery (by pressing CTRL + F11 when restarting), which completely wiped my hard drive and restored everything back to the way the Dell was out-of-the-box... No reinstallation disc required or anything of the sort.

Whether or not there was another fix to the problem, I don't know.  But I can at least use my pc like it's brand new now, with no problems whatsoever.  It fixed my cd-rom drive problem and the hal.dll issue.

(The technician asked if I had anything I needed to backup on my hard drive before using the Recovery, but like I stated in my first post, after my first restart when I COULD boot Windows, everything was missing anyway, so I think all that stuff was gone to begin with... So it wasn't worth the hassle to try to connect my hard drive to another PC to save stuff, considering I don't really know how to do that stuff anyway!)

Thank you again for your help!