drive consistency check / chkdsk / HAL.DLL missing or corrupt?

Question

Lately, while my WinXP laptop has been booting up, I get a temporary light blue screen, saying something about "drive consistency check" and "check not performed".

So I searched the forums here, and found someone who had a similar problem, with the solution of using CHKDSK in a CMD window. So I checked to see if my C: drive was Dirty, and it is.

So then he was told to run "CHKDSK C: /F /X". But I got an error that the volume could not be dismounted because it was in use. So then I tried "CHKDSK C: /F", and got an error, but it said it could run it the next time the systems boots up.

So I restarted my system, and the blue screen came up, with longer messages, but it still couldn't check the disk.

So I restarted my system again and went into the Recovery Console. I assume it went to run "CHKDSK C: /F", but it stopped on a black screen, saying that "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt \system32\HAL.DLL Please re-install a copy of the above file."

So I checked c:\system32\ and HAL.DLL is not there. But it does exist at c:\WINDOWS\system32\HAL.DLL .

So am I doing this right? Is CHKDSK checking in the right place (C:\WINDOWS\system32\HAL.DLL)? If so, is my HAL.DLL file corrupt, and how do I fix it?

(As an aside, I recently had the trojan TR/Crypt.XPACK.Gen on my system. I used the Dell Malware Forums to get rid of it. I don't know if this is related to what is happening now.)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Paul

ejn63 · Answer

95% odds or better this is a dying hard drive. Press F12 at powerup, boot to the Dell diagnostics, and let the quick test run. If it finds a hard drive error, replace the drive. If not, continue to the 32-bit Dell diagnostics when prompted, select the hard drive and run the extended test (this will take a couple of hours). Any errors there -- replace the drive.

paulmcd123 · Answer

The  hard drive passed both the quick test, and the longer 32-bit Dell diagnostics test, with no problems. Any other ideas? Thanks, Paul

ejn63 · Answer

You can try replacing the HAL.DLL, but if the problems continue, I'd do a system reset to default (if you have the Dell/Symantec restore in the disc, it's CTRL-F11 at the Dell screen). Otherwise, reload Windows manually.

Reloading hal.dll:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/missinghaldll.htm

paulmcd123 · Answer

I went to the pcsupport.about.com website you mentioned, and I ran into a problem in the Recovery Console section. In step 5, it needs to know the Administrator's password. I've never had one, so I simply hit ENTER. I got an Error. I did this twice, then typed in SPACES on the 3rd attempt. It wouldn't accept it.

So I made an ISO disk of "Offline NT Password & Registry Editor", booted from it, and cleared the Administrator's password.

Then when I was at step 5 in the Recovery Console section, I hit ENTER. It said it was the wrong password. Then I tried typing SPACES. Nothing. Argh.

So I started over again and made a password for the "PAUL Computer Administrator" account.

Got to Step 5, and entered the new Administrator password, and got an error. I tried two more times before it booted me to the regular Windows environment.

So both ways (no password, and with password) didn't work at Step 5. Is this right? See http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ss/rconsole_5.htm .

So I don't know how to put the HAL.DLL or the BOOT.INI from the Dell WinXP CD onto my computer.

Question: If I do a System Reset to Default (as you wrote in your last email), will this re-install WinXP or destroy my data? Or is it mostly transparent to the user? I'm reluctant to try this without knowing more about it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Paul

ejn63 · Answer

Your best bet at this point is to remove the drive, mount it in an external case, and attach it to a working system by USB. Back up your data and recover the system (which is data destructive) after you return the drive to the system.

paulmcd123 · Answer

Okay, thanks. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this. Oh well. Thanks again. -Paul

paulmcd23 · Answer

Hi again,

Is this right? This infers that the problem is not a physical platter problem of the hard drive, but a software problem, since you said to re-use the existing hard drive, but reload the system software from the Dell WinXP disk. Correct?

I ask because I bought a new hard drive and cloned my existing hard drive to it by using Acronis True Image. Is it true that this new hard drive will still have the same problems because it is a software problem? I'm just realizing that I shouldn't have bought another hard drive (if this is true).

Thanks again. -Paul

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drive consistency check / chkdsk / HAL.DLL missing or corrupt?

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