boot.ini missing after bootcfg /rebuild

I have a Dell PC running Windows XP Home Edition. Recently I started getting
the "Windows could not start because hal.dll is missing or corrupt" message.
I used my Windows CD and performed the bootcfg /rebuild procedure as per
instructions. This enabled me to boot Windows XP and access all my files. I
was even able to Restart and have it work properly. However, when I turned
my computer off and tried to boot up again, I got the "hal.dll missing etc."
message again. When I booted Windows using the CD again, I found that there
was no boot.ini file, only a boot.ini.backup in the C:\Windows\pss folder. I
tried creating boot.ini manually with Notepad, but the file was deleted again
the next time I tried to reboot. Can anybody tell me what to do? I feel
like I'm back in the '70s, using a disk to boot my computer each time.

Try using Google: just put in hal.dll is missing in the search box.
It sounds like it could even be a failing HDD.
If you can, backup your HDD asap if possible the next time you get it booted
or take it out and put it in another machine to do a backup.

Thanks, but I think I've already read about every article about this topic.
Also, my hal.dll is not missing (not to say that it might not be corrupt).
I was able to perform disk diagnostics through the diagnostic partition and
all the tests came out OK.

I guess I'm looking for someone to tell me why boot.ini gets deleted and
what to do about it.

[golden]

Very interesting post because I have the exact same issue. Went to recovery console to do a bootcfg /rebuild for that one time get in Windows and I checked if the boot.ini was still there with no luck.

I tried to access the boot.ini by msconfig but the tab wasn't there. I went by Startup and recovery button from System Properties and I got an error message (sorry i forgot to write it down).

I'm starting to think it's spyware of virus that deleting that file but Norton 2009 showing nothing and I'm running Malwarebyte right now. The PC that I'm working on has been rebuild 3 weeks ago from the recovery partition. It's an HP Pavillion a1350n with the built-in recovery partition.

sorry for late answer but I figure out a way to not having the problem. I could track the problem occured on boot up. I simply disable all unnessesary services and program at startup using msconfig and then reactivate the one that I knew I really needed.

I'm sorry, I don't know which one was causing the trouble, I didn't bother pin point the one but the PC works fine since then.

My personal theory is that one or more of the system files is missing or
corrupt or mismatched or the boot sector is corrupt and for some reason that
causes Windows to delete the boot.ini. I say this because when you boot from
the CD, it seems to be providing all the files etc. required for the boot.
Is there any software that detects whether all boot files are present and not
corrupt?

I just have to think that someone from Microsoft knows what causes this
behavior.

I have a Dell PC running Windows XP Home Edition. Recently I started
getting
the "Windows could not start because hal.dll is missing or corrupt" message.
I used my Windows CD and performed the bootcfg /rebuild procedure as per
instructions. This enabled me to boot Windows XP and access all my files.
I
was even able to Restart and have it work properly. However, when I turned
my computer off and tried to boot up again, I got the "hal.dll missing etc."
message again. When I booted Windows using the CD again, I found that there
was no boot.ini file, only a boot.ini.backup in the C:\Windows\pss folder.
I
tried creating boot.ini manually with Notepad, but the file was deleted
again
the next time I tried to reboot. Can anybody tell me what to do? I feel
like I'm back in the '70s, using a disk to boot my computer each time.

Did you read and try this procedure? I have used this several times with
100% success.

Repairing Windows XP in Eight Commands

Are you sure it's not Norton doing the damage?

You need to find out when the file gets deleted. Is the file present
just before you do a shutdown?

Get Sysinternals' Process Monitor from the Microsoft site and set it to
monitor the boot.ini file. If you enable Process Monitor's Boot Logging
feature the utility will boot right through the shutdown process. You
may need to do a complete boot/shutdown cycle with Boot Logging enabeld
to get good results. Enable Boot Logging & shutdown the computer. Then
reboot and shutdown again, the second set of results should capture the
shutdown activity. Use the filters to monitor only the boot.ini file,
else the log may be pretty big!

Someone else had the problem of the boot.ini file getting deleted a
few days ago.

If the boot.ini is missing it will not show up as a tab in MSCONFIG
(this makes sense).

An immediate suggestion was that they:

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these three free
malware detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM):
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS):
AVG (AVG):
After 5 days of futzing around and 24 messages, they finally decided
to apply the suggestion offered on day 1.

Problem solved.

I believe my problem was caused by the power going off or being inadvertently
turned off while Windows was shutting down and doing an automatic update. I
did a system restore to a date about a month ago and the PC seems to be
working OK now.

Never did figure out why boot.ini was being deleted, though.

Good to hear you got going again..

I think using System Restore by going back a month is a bit drastic,
couldn't you use a more recent date?

I would invest in a imaging program such as Acronis True Image (there are
others) and do a regular backup. Comes in handy
for situation like this.

I couldn't remember exactly when the incident occurred, so I thought a month
would be sufficient to get back a good configuration. I had actually set my
mind on doing a system repair from CD, which would have been a lot, lot more
trouble, so I'm glad the restore worked.

I back up things selectively on flash drive, guess I'm too lazy to do a full
backup.

By the way, thanks to everyone who offered suggestions to assist me with the
problem.

Do you have any software/toolbars from Applian Technologies installed
(Ask & Record, etc.)?

A few people are pinning disappearing files on that software, but
Applian has so far not been able to confirm it.

boot.ini
AUTOEXEC.BAT
CONFIG.SYS
Any folders that start with "@" in its name in the boot drive "C"

Glad to hear it's working, but you've used a temporary tool for
troubleshooting to "fix" your problem and it's likely going to lead to
confusion in the future if you try to use it again and especially ifyou
look at the actual serviced; they'll still show as running.
MSConfig is ONLY a tool, not a way to fix things. With it, you could
determin exactly which service is causing the problem. Then you could
go to Services and actually change how that service starts, or have it
never run again, etc.. There it would also show you want other services
might depend on the service, too, in case killing it breaks something
else you haven't discovered yet. Frankly, I'm wondering if some of the
services you stopped with MSConfig didn't come back on their own;
windows won't allow it stop some of them.

If you ever have to have someone else look at your machine, be sure you
tell them what you did with MSConfig or they might clean install a new
system for you and lose data. So get your backups in order, too. It's
your machine of course, so you can do as you wish with it.

I think I may have found a lot of the cause of this.

I have three clients systems all of which are exhibiting this problem. I've
checked to see what's happening and find that the boot.ini is being deleted
as part of the start up.

Next all three have recently had IE8 installed. One is a MEdia Center, One
an XP Jome and one an XP Pro. I've removed IE8 from two of them and the
problem has disappeared!!

I'm keeping the third machine for a sort while to see if I can find out if
it's a fault in the IE8 installation or a hijack which is using IE8 to
deliver.

The machines have been removed from the internet and still showed this
symptom - so if it is an exploit it's embedded and using the presence of IE8.

Do any of these afflicted machines have or ever had the Ask Toolbar
installed?

[GOM]

I saw this exact same scenario yesterday.
Created a boot.ini to fix the missing hal.dll error and it is deleted upon reboot.
Replace boot.ini and reboot into safe mode..no problem.
Narrowed it down to ASKupgrade service.
Removed Ask toolbar and anything related to Ask and the machine is 99% back to normal.
The only problem I have now is that there are no options available in the boot.ini tab in Msconfig. Strangely enough I can still edit via System Properties.
Futhermore, it seems the problem is a combination of Ask toolbar and IE8 but I can't be specific about the nature of that combination.