when turn on my computer i get this message that the file hal.dll is missing or corrupted and that i should reinstall a copy.... i have a windows service pack two disk and have tried to repair it using this by following guides which i found when i googled hal.dll but they dont work!!! PLEASE HELP... the computer will not even go to welcome screen so i'm using my wii to acess the internet and start this thread

Usually when something like this happens, it is because it is corrupted. Possibly because the computer did not shut down properly, possibly because the hard drive is damaged.

I'm guessing the online instructions told you to enter the 'recovery console' from the installation disk. if you cannot remedy the problem from there, the simplest solution is to do a 'repair install.' it is another option you have from the xp installation disk. just select 'repair' from the options that come up when you boot the computer. Follow any onscreen instructions, and if the hard drive is not hopelessly corrupted or damaged, you should be good to go.

if the repair install 'doesn't' work, you'll need to move to the next step, a full reinstall. if you need to get to here, the hard drive is either very badly corrupted, or parts of it are damaged. In this case, when you are selecting where to install the operating system, you will be asked to format the drive. be SURE you select the standard reformat! doing a 'quick' format will only rewrite the partition, it will not check for damaged sectors on the drive. If there is invaluable data on the drive, I recommend trying something other than a full reinstall.

Options here: (you'll need to use a friends computer. the wii can do lots, but it can't burn cd's.)
see if you can access the hard drive from another environment. Look into Knoppix, or BartPE.
Knoppix is a pre-installed version of linux. Doublecheck that the version you are downloading can read NTFS drives.
BartPE is a program that will help you make your own pre-installed environment using your xp installation disk.

Try that, and if you can read your drive from there and recover your data onto a USB flash drive, excellent, but the drive might be damaged beyond that even.
In this case, as a last ditch effort, try a program called SpinRite. It isn't free, but it saved me back in the day, and if your data is worth it, I recommend it.

I am having the same issue. When I put in my recover CD, it starts to read from it then goes back to the invailid boot.ini missing or corruped hal.dll. I took the hard drive out and can slave it to my other computer, but my other computer has Win xp pro on it and the hard drive that I am having problems with has Win xp home. Can I still fix it?

Thanks