Massive Problem - Cant Start Windows.

[SamGreen]

Missing System32 folder, Cant start windows.
OS: WinXP Pro SP2
Yestaday I was surfing the web, when my computer suddenly shut down with no apparent reason, I thought it must of been overheated or something, but when I went to restart, it came up with:

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.

I found this: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/pcrepair/a/missinghal_dll.htm I proceeded to follow the instructions, but when it came to"expand d:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32\hal.dll" in the recovery console, it said "Access Denied". I tried to cd to c:\windows\system32 but that didnt work either, I used dir c:\windows\system32 and it told me it didnt exist.... Weird thing is, that my 2 anti viruses and my firewall didnt give any alerts or anything...

So thats my problem, I must of had a virus that deleted system32... Is there anyway I can resolve the problem without re-installing windows?

Thanks in advance :rolleyes:
-Sam

[TiJay]

First off, Welcome to DaniWeb Forums...

From what I read in the article you posted, that should work. Do you have much experience in DOS Prompt? If that way doesn't work, and you have access to another computer, plug your boot drive into the seperate PC, and transfer the file hal.dll to %SYSTEM%\system32 and that should take care of that part of the problem - provided whatever deleted/corrupted that file didn't take anything else out as well..

[gemini4]

Expanding hal.dll is not a good solution as this system file is compiled during OS install depending on the system's hardware configuration. Hal is the hardware abstraction layer. There are 2 possible solutions to the problem:

1. In Recovery Console type bootcfg /rebuild and when you are asked: boot identifier: WindwsXP2; and boot parameter: fastdetect. Exit to reboot.

2. Run a windows repair: http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxphome/installxpcdrepair/part1.htm