My computer would not shut down from the Start/Turn Off command. I pulled the power cord, waited a few seconds, and turned the computer on. Now I get the following message at boot up: "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt - system32\hal.dll Please re-install a copy of the above file." How can I resolve this problem. I considered using fixboot from the Recovery Console. However, I do not have enough information about fixboot to know if it will be the solution. I am running Windows XP Home on a Pentium 2.4G PC with a 250G HD and 768mb memory. I do not have a floppy drive on this computer. I did not have a problem with this computer prior to this time.
