I have just switched on my PC, after having no problems with it and received
the following message:

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 checked the microsoft website and searched various discussion threads and
found others have had the same problem.
I follewd the various advice given but after running bootcfg /rebuild, it
only finds one
installation of windows which is on thew E: drive, but this is my DVD drive,
or was....
Is this right or should I expect to see an installation on C: drive at this
point.

It appears my drive letters have been re-assigned, while in the repair
consul screen I checked the directories of my other drives / pasrtotions and
it confirms they appear to have reverted back to a set up I had in the past
before I installed a sata drive.

I have previously used my PC with no problems, this problem came out of the
blue, could the recent windows updates have caused this problem?

Do I continue with the rebuild instructions allowing windows to boot from E
drive?

Many thanks
Mick

keelie,

i'm having a similar problem (won't boot) but caused by a different
problem...the error message i see is "missing operating system." I usedmy
winxp pro installation cd and ran the recovery console from it and can at
least verify to you that the hard drive and any other storage devices
(including virtual/logical partitions) you may have mounted or attached are
assigned drive letters in heirarchal order from the boot disk which is the c:
drive (even if it is your dvd and not the primary hard drive in). As for your
problem being caused by the latest windows update, that's a good question!

Proceeding with the bootcfg /rebuild command and allowing windows to boot
from the E: drive is your choice but it is my understanding of the recovery
console that upon reboot (without the boot cd in place) that E: drive will be
recognized as the c: drive which it should be. Just be prepared to lose all
data on the drive if it doesn't work and start from scratch.

BL

"keelie" wrote:

> I have just switched on my PC, after having no problems with it and received
> the following message:
>
> 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 checked the microsoft website and searched various discussion threads and
> found others have had the same problem.
> I follewd the various advice given but after running bootcfg /rebuild, it
> only finds one
> installation of windows which is on thew E: drive, but this is my DVD drive,
> or was....
> Is this right or should I expect to see an installation on C: drive at this
> point.
>
> It appears my drive letters have been re-assigned, while in the repair
> consul screen I checked the directories of my other drives / pasrtotions and
> it confirms they appear to have reverted back to a set up I had in the past
> before I installed a sata drive.
>
> I have previously used my PC with no problems, this problem came out of the
> blue, could the recent windows updates have caused this problem?
>
> Do I continue with the rebuild instructions allowing windows to boot from E
> drive?
>
> Many thanks
> Mick
>
>
>