hal.dll error

[maurob]

i dont know what happen. i was uninstalling some unnecessary programs that i had on my hp pavilion zv5000 and all of a sudden my icons started to disappear. my computer froze and i restarted my computer. upon rebooting i got the following message:

windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<window root>/system32\hal.dll
please-reinstall a copy of the above file.

i cant do safe mode. i cant do anything in f8. i cant restart through recovery because my password that i used to log in is no long valid. cant restart from last best configuration.

i haevnt reinstalled a new hard drive. i havent put anything in my computer. all i was doing was errasing some unnecessary programs i dont use anymore. it was going through the uninstalling process and my icons began to disappear. thanks for any help

[rraehal]

I just had a firends computer do this. I ended up having to format and reinstall. A little different scenario than your but it started to act strange and then froze and came up to this error. It seems to me that his issue was spyware related because his problem started upon an internet conenction.

Since you can not log in using recovery you may want to consider a repair install. Your files will be in tact but you will need to reinstall many if not all your applications.

[maurob]

will i be able to recover any documents and pictures that i have on their??? i have some important stuff i didnt save.

[Shoreguy]

You're pics and docs should be ok as long as you do the repair install correctly

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/rep...ting%20Setu p:
--rocketmech post from another thread

If you're concerned, slap the hd into another machine as a slave. you should be able to access the drive and pull off the stuff you want to save. If you're able to grab everthing, don't bother with the repair at that point, just do a full install. You're gonna be doing the majority of it regardless, as rraehal said. g'luck!

[kwebb]

You certainly don't have to format and install. Simply boot up with the CD and choose repair when prompted.

[Sterling_Aug]

Maybe now you will look into a backup solution.