Fix hal.dll:

Even if that worked, you would end up installing a generic hal.dll file on your system and that is probably not the one you need.

There are 7 possible hal.dlls on the XP installation CD and during the installation, XP looks at your hardware and XP picks the proper one to install.  The chances of the generic hal.dll being the correct one for modern systems is extremely low.  To replace your hal.dll from the installation CD, you would have to know which of the 7 possible ones are right for your system.

For example, if I wanted to replace my hal.dll file on my system, I would have to use this file from the XP installation CD:

HALMACPI.DL_

You will not be "good to go" if you just copy the hal.dl_ file (or any compressed file) from your installation CD to your hard disk - that will not work either.  Try it yourself and see what happens. 

Boot your system on your XP installation CD and copy the hal.dl_ to your hard drive overwriting your current hal.dll, remove the bootable CD and reboot your system.  What happens?

Are you getting some message when you try to start your computer and what is the message?

Having fixed (or helped fix) this common problem countless times, I have never replaced a hal.dll file to do it and since most people do not have an XP installation CD in the first place, so it helps to learn how to fix the issue without an XP installation CD.

It is too bad the Microsoft Answers XP Forums does not have a pinned topic just for this common problem and how to solve it since it comes up almost every single day.  Some other forums do though.

The first thing you should do when you see this problem is to use the Recovery Console to verify the integrity of you file system. 

You do this after booting on a Recovery Console CD you can make (no XP media required) or a genuine bootable XP installation CD and then on your boot drive running:

chkdsk /r

Sometimes that is all you need to do.

If you still have the problem after chkdsk /r runs clean, you still probably don't need to replace the hal.dll - it is usually something else like an afflicted boot.ini file and you can fix that another way, but first you need to be sure chkdsk /r runs clean.

It makes zero sense to start trying to replace files if your file system is corrupted.

After booting into the Recovery Console, you should be in this folder:

C:\WINDOWS

For each of your hard disk partitions, you should then run:

chkdsk /r

For example, from the Recovery Console prompt, enter:

chkdsk c: /r

Let chkdsk finish and correct any problems it might find.  It may take a long time to complete or appear to be 'stuck'.  Be patient.  If the HDD light is still flashing, it is doing something.  Keep an eye on the percentage amount to be sure it is still making progress.  It may even appear to go backwards sometimes.

The chkdsk /r needs to complete without any errors, so you may need to run it multiple times until it does.

Remove the CD and type 'exit' to leave the Recovery Console and restart the computer and report back with your progress.

Do, or do not. There is no try.

I decided to save up points for a new puppy instead of a pony!