[jviren]

An electric outage yesterday caused my Compaq Presario desktop to have problems. It booted REALLLLLLLY slowly and so I rebooted it, but I got an error message: "Disk read error recurred on Start Up. Press Ctl + Alt + Delete..." So I did that over and over and it didn't work. Then I got another error message: "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: Windows root.\system 32\hal.dll. Please reinstall a copy of the above file." I found some articles on how to reinsal the file with the XP recovery disks, but I have some questions.

My questions:
1) I have 2 OS installed (XP Pro and XP Home) because that's how my computer guy did it. Since XP Pro is the default, I'm assuming that is the disk I use. However, I don't think I have those disks, so what can I do?
2) Is it possible that starting in Safe Mode will fix this, instead of recovery disks? I can't seem to get to that page, even though I have pressed F8 when I was able to get to the boot loader page or BIOS page, but it won't work.
3) I have had many issues with the electricity going out and wrecking things on my computer, not to mention killing my fax machine. Last time it happened, Outlook reverted to 2006. I have the computer on a surge protector, which obviously was of no use in this case. I also have it hooked up to a UBS but that doesn't really help me when I am not home when the electricity goes out. And I don't want to turn my computer off, mid-project, just because I'm leaving my home office for a couple of hours. Besides a lightning rod and a standby generator, is there a solution to this so this won't happen again?

Fortunately, my files are backed up by Carbonite, but I would rather get this computer working without reformatting the hard drive, since I have too many projects to take the time to install everything again right now.

Thank you for your help!

[KStrawn]

Power outages are a real headache, especially since Windows is really sensitive to them. My suggestion is that you load your Windows DVD and launch Startup Repair. This utility will really fix that problem.

Your problem is a corrupt Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL). The HAL is vital to the Windows Boot Process. When the HAL file is corrupt, Windows won't load.

Oh, and corruption means the file (HAL.DLL) is polluted with errors.

[doslover]

KStrawn, on 07 November 2009 - 11:04 PM, said:

Your problem is a corrupt Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL). The HAL is vital to the Windows Boot Process. When the HAL file is corrupt, Windows won't load.

Oh, and corruption means the file (HAL.DLL) is polluted with errors.

I have seen several forum users report this problem, getting the "hal.dll file missing or corrupt" message. I see that this file is located in the directory <root>:\Windows\System32, and wondered if it would help to proactively copy this file to the root directory, and write a small batch file to copy it back to the system directory. Is this a dynamically updated file that is constantly being updated by windows? I realize that you would still need some sort of utility that would permit you boot the drive so that you could access the file and copy it. Fortunately, I have never experienced this problem, although years ago a computer at work was nearly vaporized by an electrical storm, despite being connected to a surge suppressor. I never walk away and leave my desktop turned on when there is any storm activity nearby, and turn it off and pull the UPS/suppressor plug from the wall AC during severe storms, since I don't trust any "protector" to be 100% effective. If I'm using my laptop, I put it to sleep and disconnect the AC adapter if I leave it unattended.

[jviren]

Thank you for your advice. I only have the CDs that I purchased from Compaq that are called Recovery Disks. Is that what I use, or will I have to find XP Pro on a commercially available disk? I read something about the recovery disks not working for this (when they come with a computer) but since I ordered mine, I'm wondering if that's different. Startup Repair will be the Windows XP Pro disk?

[jviren]

Just for an update, a tech helped me run a test on my hard drive and it's fried!
So much for recovery.

Thanks for all your help!