HAL.DLL is killing me!

bigbarthy · 03-15-2006

Good Day All. New guy here. I need help. Working on a machine for a friend of mine. Here's the specs:

Operating System: Attempting to load Windows XP (Pro)
Computer Make: sony (vaio)
Processor: 2.1 MHz Intel
Memory: 128 MB (Rambus I believe)

The hard drive is a 60 gig that was partitioned in half; XP on one side...ME on the other. the owner wanted to go to one partition and XP only. After fdisk and formatting ( i formatted this drive to ntfs after all the problems began) and subsequent attempting to load windows XP Booting the comptuer with a freshly formatted drive, while booting to the CDROM using the Windows XP CD, right after the kernel dll files begin to load, an error message comes up and says "unable to load hal.dll error code 7". I tried a different hard drive as well..same thing. can't get past it. It will load Windows ME just fine.
I removed the mother board battery for the weekend...this didn't change anything. The 128 MB Memory appears to be RAMBUS...but not 100% sure.

Installed another hard drive that has never been in this machine and still receive the same error at exactly the same time. This drive had XP already on it...however, I booted to the WinXP CD so that I could reformat the drive and reload windows...but never get far enough to do that.

This is a tough one. It sounds like something in the bios...please help!

Bigbarthy

joe5 · 03-15-2006

Hya BB.

So you cant do anything at all with the XP disc before it gives that error? Then that rules out most of the solutions here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm

XP has been installed and running on there before , so the machine can handle XP. And the ME will load and install without problems , then that rules out setup options since it apperantly works with the ME disc.. Hmm..

So the bootorder must also be correct , you are being asked to "press any key to boot from cd" ? Just to check have a look at the bootorder in youre bios and check if it is setup like this:

A: floppie
B: cd/dvd
C: HD

Or try running Killdisk on the drive and then try to format and install with the XP disc directly , not using fdisk:

http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

bigbarthy · 03-15-2006

Hi Joe5 and thx for getting back to me. I believe I have the boot seq in that order. I'll check when I get home today. I dunno what killdisk will do for me though since I've tried loading on two different hard drives and still get the same error..but hey...I'll give it a go and let you know!
Thanks again
BB

bigbarthy · 03-18-2006

I obtained a new Windows XP disc. It now goes past the Hal.dll but still won't load windows completely.

It get's to the part where it wants to put 100% files on before loading.
Now, I have tried this 20 times..reformat...load...and never..i mean, never does the same file give me problems. It must load thousands of files. It stops at anywhere from 40% to 85% (many different file names have popped up) and give me the option of hit enter to retry to load the file, or escape to disregard the file and move on or F3 to restart. I've done everything over and over. I've actually tried 2 different Windows XP discs. They do the same thing. I've fdisk'd over and over. Formatted over and over..and still nothing.
I thought for a moment when I saw it go past the Kernel.dll loading step that we had it licked.
Any other suggestions?

03-15-2006	#1
bigbarthy Bronze Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 11	HAL.DLL is killing me! Good Day All. New guy here. I need help. Working on a machine for a friend of mine. Here's the specs: Operating System: Attempting to load Windows XP (Pro) Computer Make: sony (vaio) Processor: 2.1 MHz Intel Memory: 128 MB (Rambus I believe) The hard drive is a 60 gig that was partitioned in half; XP on one side...ME on the other. the owner wanted to go to one partition and XP only. After fdisk and formatting ( i formatted this drive to ntfs after all the problems began) and subsequent attempting to load windows XP Booting the comptuer with a freshly formatted drive, while booting to the CDROM using the Windows XP CD, right after the kernel dll files begin to load, an error message comes up and says "unable to load hal.dll error code 7". I tried a different hard drive as well..same thing. can't get past it. It will load Windows ME just fine. I removed the mother board battery for the weekend...this didn't change anything. The 128 MB Memory appears to be RAMBUS...but not 100% sure. Installed another hard drive that has never been in this machine and still receive the same error at exactly the same time. This drive had XP already on it...however, I booted to the WinXP CD so that I could reformat the drive and reload windows...but never get far enough to do that. This is a tough one. It sounds like something in the bios...please help! Bigbarthy

03-15-2006	#2
joe5 Elite Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Netherlands Posts: 9,021	Hya BB. So you cant do anything at all with the XP disc before it gives that error? Then that rules out most of the solutions here: http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm XP has been installed and running on there before , so the machine can handle XP. And the ME will load and install without problems , then that rules out setup options since it apperantly works with the ME disc.. Hmm.. So the bootorder must also be correct , you are being asked to "press any key to boot from cd" ? Just to check have a look at the bootorder in youre bios and check if it is setup like this: A: floppie B: cd/dvd C: HD Or try running Killdisk on the drive and then try to format and install with the XP disc directly , not using fdisk: http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm __________________ - PCHF Team. - (NL) - Mal-ware Eradicator! - - Online AV Scans - HijackThis! - Bootdisk.com - ATF-Cleaner - Stinger - 'Prework' - 'Afterwork' - PCHF Rules - Donate to PCHF. And get>

03-18-2006	#4
bigbarthy Bronze Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 11	Hal.DLL is fixed...now new problems I obtained a new Windows XP disc. It now goes past the Hal.dll but still won't load windows completely. It get's to the part where it wants to put 100% files on before loading. Now, I have tried this 20 times..reformat...load...and never..i mean, never does the same file give me problems. It must load thousands of files. It stops at anywhere from 40% to 85% (many different file names have popped up) and give me the option of hit enter to retry to load the file, or escape to disregard the file and move on or F3 to restart. I've done everything over and over. I've actually tried 2 different Windows XP discs. They do the same thing. I've fdisk'd over and over. Formatted over and over..and still nothing. I thought for a moment when I saw it go past the Kernel.dll loading step that we had it licked. Any other suggestions? Last edited by bigbarthy; 03-18-2006 at 02:38 AM.

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