Hal.ddl missing. please help.

fateastray · Aug 20, 2008

I'm installing WinXP sp3. I used the USB method. I prep'd the USB stick. Booted from USB (F12-method)
Formatted the drive (NTFS), made sure there's only one empty partition. Files copied from USB to HDD. Then, when rebooting, it gave the dreaded

Hal.dll message....

I'm kinda panicky right now, so if someone could please tell me how to fix this, I'd be very grateful.

edit: Currently re-trying using external dvd-ram.

update: Using the dvd-r, I'm currently in the GUI. Yay!

Theory: USB stick didn't work, because after reboot, It didn't auto-boot into the usb-stick.

Currently installing! Will report if it works perfectly. Still curious about what happened. If anyone knows, do post, because the drive isn't mine, and i want to keep the USB as a recovery-system.

Rectifier · Aug 20, 2008

Common problem, happens because the instalation was done using the wrong drive letters.

The USB-stick method you used relies on the computer booting on the _right_ USB stick. ( and it usually messes up drive letters)

Steps to try:

-Remove all other removable storage devices
-tell the bios to boot first on the USB stick, harddrive comes second.
-do the text setup, but quit after completely whiping out every known partition and making a new one with NTFS. A better solution is to make a fdisk/partition magic USB boot disk and whipe the drive's MBR, linux seems to remain in charge somehow (or use grub...)
- reboot, make sure it boots on the hard drive, and then defaults back to the usb stick, which should be in second place now
- redo the test setup, but don't change anything (no formatting, partitioning etc, use the drive as it is)
- the gui setup should load, but I kept getting an error due to the MBR still being there

If that does not work, there is a gruellingly slow method that works (as proven by myself), involving copying the entire install cd onto the harddrive.

fateastray · Aug 20, 2008

Thanks for your reply! That clarified lots.

I finished the XP install using an external Dvd-burner, and it's working like a charm.

Happy~~

Kreso · Aug 20, 2008

I've had the same error today. I'm afraid to try the suggestions above because if it doesn't work (more precisely: if I don't get it to work), I'll end up with an unuseable laptop, because I don't have an external DVD drive. I think I'll stick to the preinstalled XP Home, it seems to work allright for now.

BTW. While am at it, wat system monitoring program do you use on desktop here?

Rectifier · Aug 21, 2008

If you have Xp pre-installed why worry?

Copy over the entire i386 dir (including subdirs) from your XP pro or whatever version you are upgrading to (to the harddrive).
Better still, copy the entire cd over, into a path (say c:\XP\), and start setup.exe from there. This will initiate an update install, or perhaps a new install, whatever you like most.

fateastray · Aug 21, 2008

Kreso said:
I've had the same error today. I'm afraid to try the suggestions above because if it doesn't work (more precisely: if I don't get it to work), I'll end up with an unuseable laptop, because I don't have an external DVD drive. I think I'll stick to the preinstalled XP Home, it seems to work allright for now.

BTW. While am at it, wat system monitoring program do you use on desktop here?

The system monitoring software was found on this forum actually, it's called ' Notebook Hardware Control'

I also have an objectdock installed, ' Stardock ObjectDock'. It works awesome with the One.

(I was tingling with the resolution-settings, and the monitor moved a tad to the left, no idea why, and it wont go back, but that's aight..

soderkvist · Aug 21, 2008

I'm also missing the hal.dll. First the GUI installation wouldn't start because hal.dll was missing but suddenly it did (dont know how i managed that..) and I finished the installation. The computer reboots after installing windows and bam! the problem is back! hal.dll missing again.
I tried removing the partition to do the installation again but now, as before, the GUI-part of the installation wont start because of that missing hal.dll. After setup is finished copying setup-files I can get no further.

Can anyone please help? I don't have access to a USB optical drive and I have a netbook without os

Rectifier · Aug 21, 2008

Have you read one of my last posts?

If it did not work, and you have loads of time - make a dos bootable FAT32 USB stick, with the WIN98 bootdisk on it.
additionally you will need format(.com?), fdisk, sys, xcopy32.exe and smartdrv.exe.
Then copy over the entire i386 dir of your windows CD to it.

Do the following:

1) use fdisk (or your previous windows install USB disk) to partition the harddrive
2) format it using FAT32
3) type sys c: from your usb source
4) start smartdrv (make sure there is a himem.sys loaded first)
5) xcopy32 the i386 folder to c:\i386 (use /E)
6) grow tired of waiting, but hang on...
7) copy over a config.sys file to the c drive, together with smartdrv and himem.sys
8) reboot, and remove the USB drive (make the harddisk the first device to boot)
9) it should start, perhaps with loads of errors, into DOS. My sys gave the error that command.com could not be copied. I just forgot the real solution, hence used the command.com off my USB disk.
10) run smartdrv
11) goto c:\i386, and run winnt.exe
11) It will take a LOONG time, so be patient. Even if nothing seems to move - wait.
11) The setup will ask you to convert to NTFS. This will happen once or twice, don't panic, just let it run.
12) the usual setup GUI will appear after one or two reboots.

This is a last resort - it works, but takes forever.

soderkvist · Aug 21, 2008

Haha thanks. I guess I have to try that after the exams if I don't get it running by then. If anyone else has any ideas of an solution I'm open to suggestions. I can't understand how it can work for some and for some it don't. :?

Update: I can now run windows as long as I first boot from the USB-stick. Progress!

xammy · Aug 22, 2008

soderkvist said:
Haha thanks. I guess I have to try that after the exams if I don't get it running by then. If anyone else has any ideas of an solution I'm open to suggestions. I can't understand how it can work for some and for some it don't. :?

Update: I can now run windows as long as I first boot from the USB-stick. Progress!

here's a simple solution:

after you boot from usb-stick, go to drive C:, and edit boot.ini file
(don't forget to set "view system file" and "show hidden files" if you can't see this file)
mostly, if you install from usb-stick as in eeepc tutorial, the information generated in this file is incorrect between (0) and (o).
manualy delete and replace all "(0)" with "(0)" (that is zero on bracket)
save the file, then restart...

Aqualung · Aug 22, 2008

Alright, this is the solution I found.

When you install from a USB key it may install the operating system on drive C or it may do it on D, E, whatever.

The point is, it will tell you the drive, bus, partition etc that you need to specify in boot.ini.

So here is how you fix it:

1. Boot up from the USB drive again.
2. Go to start, run.
3. Type sysdm.cpl and click on run.
4. Go to advanced.
5. Under startup and recovery, click on settings.
6. Under startup click on the first edit button and it should open up your boot.ini file.

This is a sample of what a good boot.ini file should look like with only XP installed on the netbook:

Code:

[Boot Loader]
timeout=30
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

You may have to change it to suit your needs according to what drive, disk, bus and partition you chose to install your XP on. This is something you should know from when you first installed XP. Usually it is 0,0,0,1 like it is on mine but it may differ for you.

7. After you edit this file and change it to suit your needs, save it and restart. It should now work perfectly.