Welcome to RCF - WHF

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

to keep things straight, I will ask here. The dell does start up, I can get into settings. When I boot up with or without windows disc I get this error:

<windows root system32/hall.dll is missing or corrurpt, reinstal a copy"

What does that mean, anyone know? I think this thing is junk. The HD makes a loud roar, or something does. I can try to other hd in there, but I bet I can't find much of anything any good on here. I got screwed.

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

Cause
Causes of the "missing or corrupt hal.dll" error include, naturally, a damaged hal.dll file or a hal.dll file that has been deleted or moved from its intended location. Additional causes may include a damaged or missing boot.ini file or possibly a physically damaged hard drive.

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I got a feeling that guy loaded up all his junk and lied about the new hd. I will have to try the other two HDs and see if any of them work in this dell.

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

Here is a site with some very good info on that problem, you may find some good help

Missing Or Corrupt Hal.dll Error Resolution

Cause

Causes of the "missing or corrupt hal.dll" error include, naturally, a damaged hal.dll file or a hal.dll file that has been deleted or moved from its intended location. Additional causes may include a damaged or missing boot.ini file or possibly a physically damaged hard drive.

Resolution

1. Restart the PC. The hal.dll error could be a fluke.

2. Check for proper boot order in BIOS. You might see the hal.dll error if the boot order in BIOS is first looking at a hard drive other than your main hard drive.

There are a lot more steps at the site. Hope some of this helps, Dave.

sunny

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

LOL, looks like we found and posted the same site at the same time.

sunny

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

no that was usefull rb, I will check in settings for the boot order and see if that error is in there. Settings area is much more complex in this dell. It is a massive computer as it is.

That main hd has a roar, not a clanking, I think it is physically broke. I set the jumper on the 2nd hd from slave to master and left the other disconnected. I get the same sys 32 error.

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

Good news, I just took that 3rd HD in the dell and it not only works but has windows installed already. So I did in fact get a good deal from that guy. I don't know why he had windows on there when he said he didn't, and I don't know why he didn't have this hd in there instead of the 2 broken ones, but I have a working pc anyway.

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

What version of Windows do you have on that old Dell?

dontknow

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

It has xp with sp3, so must have been installed recently. I am getting an error when I first start, I need to add the new hd in the settings but that bad keyboard won't let me into settings area. I will have to borrow my keyboard from other pc again and try to update the HD info.