Help, Please:Net bood won't start

Dreamnine

When I switched on my netbook this morning I got the following message:
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.

Last night (3am) I did a cleanup using cCleaner, and did the registry too. What can I do? I have no backup on USB.

I have around 30GB of music on my netbook and don't want to lose it. Any help greatly appreciated.

m5rcc

How PC proficient are you? You could always open it up and run the hard drive as a slae and backit up that way....

m5rcc

....or upload Windows onto a pen drive and then repair Windows that way

dogmaryxx

Resolution

1. Restart the PC. The hal.dll error could be a fluke.
2. Check for proper boot order in BIOS. You might see the hal.dll error if the boot order in BIOS is first looking at a hard drive other than your main hard drive.
   
   Note: If you've recently changed your boot order or recently flashed your BIOS, this may be what's causing your problem.
3. Run Windows XP System Restore from a command prompt. If this doesn't work or you're receiving the hal.dll error message before you're able to complete this process, move on to the next step.
4. Repair or replace the boot.ini file. This will work if the cause of the problem is actually Windows XP's boot.ini file and not the hal.dll file, which is often times the case.
   
   Note: If repairing the boot.ini does correct the hal.dll issue but the problem reappears after a reboot and you've recently installed Internet Explorer 8 in Windows XP, uninstall IE8. In this specific situation, IE8 could be the root cause of your hal.dll problem.
5. Write a new partition boot sector to the Windows XP system partition. If the partition boot sector has become corrupt or isn't properly configured, you may receive the hal.dll error.
6. Recover data from any bad sectors on your hard drive. If the physical part of your hard drive that stores any part of the hal.dll file has been damaged, you're likely to see errors like this.
7. Restore the hal.dll file from the Windows XP CD. If the hal.dll file is truly the cause of the problem, restoring it from the original Windows XP CD may do the trick.
8. Perform a repair installation of Windows XP. This type of installation should replace any missing or corrupt files. Continue troubleshooting if this does not resolve the issue.
9. Perform a clean installation of Windows XP. This type of installation will completely remove Windows XP from your PC and install it again from scratch.
   
   Note: While this will almost certainly resolve any hal.dll errors, it is a time consuming process due to the fact that all of your data must be backed up and then later restored.

Dreamnine

Thanks for all your replies. I'm not that computer proficient. I understand that I should have backed up some kind of recovery onto an USB drive, but I never got round to it.

I didn't do anything in Ccleaner beyond the normal cleanup and registry.

This thing is going back to PC World tomorrow morning. It didn't come with a CD of XPSP3, either and turning it on/off, going into the Bios setup doesn't accomplish anything.

Wishe me luck at PC World- I'm going to try and maintain my equanimity.