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12 October 2005

AskMeCha Tech Desk? Administrator, puhleese hope me. WindowsXP for Dummies, anyone?
→[More:]My computer was acting funny yesterday, really sluggish, wouldn't load certain programs, etc. I turned it off and when I turned it on again, I get nothing but a black screen that says

Windows could not start because the follwing file is missing or corrupt:

[Windows root]\system32\hal.dll

Please re-install a copy of the above file.

Ok, so right now I'm at work, and I can copy hal.dll onto a floppy or a cd. Do I just turn off my computer at home, put the cd or floppy in, and let Windows do its thing? Also, what's the dll extension mean?

WindowsXP came preinstalled on my computer, so I don't have a CD version of it, so I can't reinstall the file that way - I just have restore CDs, and you can't pull files off of them.

And a really stupid question: I have seven files named hal.dll. All are in different directories. All of them are named in all lower case, except for the one in system32, which is supposedly the one I need. It's HAL.DLL, all uppercase. Does it matter?

post by: iconomy at: 09:04 | 12 comments

In my rather ignorant understanding:

.DLL files are basically the equivalent of electrical adapters, they help different programs and hardware work within the Windows environment. They are part of the reason PCs are much more adaptable than Macs.

Most likely what happened is that you uninstalled some program that hurt hal.dll or some other operation messed up the file. This is by no means a really troubling problem.

You might read this thread for ideas. The third response might be something to try.

posted by sciurus 12 October | 09:14

I know nothing but..

dll

first thing turned up on a google of hal.dll

actually there's other potentially useful things in that google

I still no nothing. My guarantee extends to all knowledge used within the room it was hallucinated.

No charge today.

posted by peacay 12 October | 09:16

You need to replace hal.dll on your PC - it has been deleted or corrupted in some way, most likely by installing or un-installing an application. You could try copying the file from a floppy via DOS if you can get the PC to boot from a floppy or CD (you may be able to use the restore disk to boot, then stop the restore process, or format a floppy at work and choose the "make system disc option, then copy your hal.dll file onto it"). At the prompt, type "copy a:\hal.dll c:\windows\system32\hal.dll (assuming a: is your floppy etc). Might just work, might not. It should, but you know, Windows and all that. Otherwise, your restore disks may have a repair option that will fix the problem without erasing your data (but you have backups this time right?

posted by dg 12 October | 09:27

posted by iconomy 12 October | 09:30

In the context of Windows XP, HAL is short for Hardware Abstraction Layer. It's basically a chunk of the operating system that sits between your applications and the hardware in your PC box. When your applications want to do something with the hardware -- like draw something on the screen through your video card, for example -- the HAL component checks out the "request" to make sure everything is kosher, before passing it on to the hardware.

You can try copying over a HAL.DLL from another Windows box running the same service pack as your home machine. You'll need to boot the computer from a bootable floppy or CD to copy over this file, however. If you have an office machine, you may be able to copy a HAL.DLL file and make a bootable floppy from this box.

Good luck.

posted by AlexReynolds 12 October | 09:30

If you do copy the file be sure to run the latest service pack afterwards to ensure all your files are up to date. That file should be the "hardware abstraction layer" and is as important as it sounds.

posted by dodgygeezer 12 October | 09:32

Thanks SO much for all of tha advice, everybody. You're all awesome.

Alex, you said "If you have an office machine, you may be able to copy a HAL.DLL file and make a bootable floppy from this box."

Thank you! I can copy the file. What do you mean by making a bootable floppy?

posted by iconomy 12 October | 09:41

Making a bootable floppy.

posted by AlexReynolds 12 October | 09:59

Ok I made a bootable floppy and I dragged HAL.DLL to it. I can't wait to see if this works. Thanks again!

posted by iconomy 12 October | 10:20

You're welcome.

posted by AlexReynolds 12 October | 10:42

OPEN THE WINDOWSXP, HAL.
I CAN'T DO THAT, DAVE.

posted by quonsar 12 October | 11:27

Exactly. Goddamn you, Hal, just freaking fix yourself and leave me out of it.

posted by iconomy 12 October | 13:34

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