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More hal.dll Problems

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dapneym

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 16, 2008
3
0
Here's the issue I've been having. I had Windows XP installed before, but ended up removing it (I don't remember why).

Anyways, when I removed the Windows partition, naturally I did it as one usually would by just using the Boot Camp Assistant.

For the past day and a half or so I've been trying to install XP again, but every single time I try, Boot Camp Assistant creates the partition just fine, then I reformat it and the items from the disk copy as the should, but then when it restarts, it immediately gives me the error:

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

I'm not sure what to do about this. I've tried multiple times with different disks and options, but none of have worked. It happens regardless of if I install using NTFS or FAT32. I'm out of ideas now, so I figured I'd see if anyone else has had the same issue. I'm currently on a 2.2GHz MacBook with 4GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive. Any ideas/solutions? :apple:
 
dimme

dimme

macrumors 68040
Feb 14, 2007
3,028
27,654
SF, CA
I had a similar problem I was reformatting to set up 2 windows partishions. I would get the missing hall. I went back to boot camp reset up the partition and did a quick format at the windows install and all is well.
 
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dapneym

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 16, 2008
3
0
I've tried that over and over and it still for some reason hasn't worked. I'm really not getting this at all, and usually I'm pretty good with stuff like this.
 
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dapneym

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 16, 2008
3
0
I'd seen those earlier, but none of them seemed to be under the same conditions that I have. I'm not sure why, but no matter how many times I destroy the partition and start over, it still gives me the same error. I have to wonder if the EFI firmware update affected it somehow. I suppose it's very possibly...
 
T

The Flashing Fi

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2007
763
0
dapneym said:
I'd seen those earlier, but none of them seemed to be under the same conditions that I have. I'm not sure why, but no matter how many times I destroy the partition and start over, it still gives me the same error. I have to wonder if the EFI firmware update affected it somehow. I suppose it's very possibly...
Click to expand...

Did you try this?
That's most commonly a boot.ini problem. Not sure how it works in Bootcamp or Parallels, but on Windows boxes you would boot to the Windows disk and start the recovery console, then type:
Attrib -H -R -S C:\Boot.ini
DEL C:\Boot.ini
BootCfg /Rebuild
Fixboot
Click to expand...

I ran into the same exact problem with XP. I could not get the darn thing installed on my MBP without rebuilding the boot.ini.

To get into the recovery console, just put your XP CD in, boot to it. Let it do its thing. When it gives you the option of installing Windows, you should see an option to go to the recovery console. It will then go to something that looks like MS DOS. It will ask for an administrative password. Just hit enter since you don't have one. Then just follow those directions.

If they don't work for you, or you run into errors, I'll find something a little more specific. There's more than one way to do this. It looks like his is an "automatic" way.
 
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Craig3Q

macrumors newbie
Apr 16, 2008
9
0
I'm having the same hal.dll problem in my iMac, but when the XP install disk is in the machine, it won't boot from it. I just keep getting the error message on the console about having to reinstall hal.dll whenever I power on the machine.

Any ideas how I can force the machine to boot the XP install disk? The system doesn't seem to respond to keyboard input (from my aluminum keyboard).
 
D

DaveF

macrumors 6502a
Aug 29, 2007
763
9
NoVA
dapneym said:
For the past day and a half or so I've been trying to install XP again, but every single time I try, Boot Camp Assistant creates the partition just fine, then I reformat it and the items from the disk copy as the should, but then when it restarts, it immediately gives me the error:
Click to expand...
Why are you reformatting the partition after BootCamp creates it? Have you tried with the normal BootCamp process?

I had a HAL.dll error for a while, but it was related to Parallels, and not solely BootCamp.
 
T

The Flashing Fi

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2007
763
0
Craig3Q said:
I'm having the same hal.dll problem in my iMac, but when the XP install disk is in the machine, it won't boot from it. I just keep getting the error message on the console about having to reinstall hal.dll whenever I power on the machine.

Any ideas how I can force the machine to boot the XP install disk? The system doesn't seem to respond to keyboard input (from my aluminum keyboard).
Click to expand...

Redo the partition. Delete it. Recreate it, and try again.
 
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Craig3Q

macrumors newbie
Apr 16, 2008
9
0
The problem was that the system didn't respond to keyboard input, so I couldn't even reformat the partition if I had wanted to.

I brought home an older keyboard from work, and using that keyboard fixed the glitch. Apparently my iMac firmware's keyboard drivers aren't 100% compatible with the aluminum flat keyboards, as far as I can tell. Now that I'm using an older keyboard and am back in control, I'm sure I can get everything back on track.
 
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