HAL.DLL Corrupt or Missing. boot.ini disappeared in Windows XP

[Malcolm W]

Hello,
I hope you can help. My Windows XP system completely failed on the 13th or 14th November .

When I boot up, I get the message windows root\system32\HAL.DLL is missing or corrupt. I know that hal.dll is still on the system, C:\Windows\System32\hal.dll 131.2 KB/134400 bytes modified 14th April 08 at 1 PM. I've looked on the internet, and all of the suggested solutions seem to require the Windows XP disk, which I wasn't given when I brought the machine.

Further examination of the problem lead me to find out that not only is there a problem with hal.dll, but boot.ini seems to have disappeared. I've tried to replace it by creating a file called C:\boot.ini and filling it with:

[boot loader]
timeout=20
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" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

That doesn't appear to have sorted the problem though.
I've examined what I've done on the 13th and 14th. According to my windows record on the 13th I:

1. Installed 2 MS Office updates
2. Ran the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool November
3. Un-installed various programs
4. Installed 10 programs
5. Installed 3 updates for Windows (KB978695, KB2378111 and KB975558)

Please see attached copy of the Windows log file for the 13th

I dual boot the system with Linux 10.04 on a second hdd. According to the log on the 13th and 14th this happened:

1. Repartitioned the Windows hdd, not the Windows partition but the second partition.
2. Installed the package ntfs-config, which allowed me to automatically mount the new partition
3. Windows is marked as having failed

[Eru]

This might be possible that your Windows got corrupted and it needs to be repair. Use the Windows Genuine CD and boot from CD and then boot from the CD now on first screen boot from CD and see what you are getting. Also check out the below given links which is having the same discussion and the solution for same.
hal.dll damaged / missing
system32/hal.dll has been corrupt or missing

[Malcolm W]

I don't have a Windows Genuine CD and I've now tried various combinations of disk and partition numbers to see if the combinations will work. They haven't.