Startup problem - "cannot find hal.dll" error msg. in Windows XP P

I'm having an error message that the boot up/startup of my Win XP Pro PC
cannot find the "hal.dll" file and stops.

I have researched about errors in "boot.ini" that might lead to such
conditions where the boot up will fail.

I have edited the "boot.ini" on my PC but still have the problem where the
PC will not boot up from the partition I need it to. You see, I have multiple
drives and have multiple drive:/Windows folders (from different
installations when I could not boot up)

I edited my "boot.ini" using steps I found from MS support. I clicked on
Properties of "Computer" then chose Advanced tab then chose 'edit' to edit
the boot.ini. I saved a copy and then edited the original and rebooted, with
NO success. I had left a line which gave me a second drive/partition that had
a Windows folder from which to boot.

The question I have is why this is happening. The PC was working fine now
for some time, and used the partition which has all my applications/software
on, my IE and Firefox customized etc...

All of a sudden the bootup process went to another drive, and I cannot
uderstand why.

I have checked my boot ROM setting and verified that the boot sequence is
correct. The drive/partition that I need Windows XP to boot from is on a SATA
drive that is the first on the boot from sequence.

What I don't understand is how Windows XP decides what drive, and what
boot.ini from several to use for bootup from. If it uses the Boot ROM setting
it should be my SATA drive, but it does not use the order from the Boot ROM.
What does it use to decide which disk drive to look for the boot.ini, and to
boot from....

A related question is what naming convention does Windows XP use to decide
which drive/partition is "rdisk(0), or rdisk(1) ..." ?????

Thanks for any help

Hi Ted,

A little info here by Hiep:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm

--

All the Best and Happy Holidays,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm


"TedM" wrote in message
...
I'm having an error message that the boot up/startup of my Win XP Pro PC
cannot find the "hal.dll" file and stops.

I have researched about errors in "boot.ini" that might lead to such
conditions where the boot up will fail.

I have edited the "boot.ini" on my PC but still have the problem where the
PC will not boot up from the partition I need it to. You see, I have
multiple
drives and have multiple drive:/Windows folders (from different
installations when I could not boot up)

I edited my "boot.ini" using steps I found from MS support. I clicked on
Properties of "Computer" then chose Advanced tab then chose 'edit' to edit
the boot.ini. I saved a copy and then edited the original and rebooted,
with
NO success. I had left a line which gave me a second drive/partition that
had
a Windows folder from which to boot.

The question I have is why this is happening. The PC was working fine now
for some time, and used the partition which has all my
applications/software
on, my IE and Firefox customized etc...

All of a sudden the bootup process went to another drive, and I cannot
uderstand why.

I have checked my boot ROM setting and verified that the boot sequence is
correct. The drive/partition that I need Windows XP to boot from is on a
SATA
drive that is the first on the boot from sequence.

What I don't understand is how Windows XP decides what drive, and what
boot.ini from several to use for bootup from. If it uses the Boot ROM
setting
it should be my SATA drive, but it does not use the order from the Boot
ROM.
What does it use to decide which disk drive to look for the boot.ini, and
to
boot from....

A related question is what naming convention does Windows XP use to decide
which drive/partition is "rdisk(0), or rdisk(1) ..." ?????

Thanks for any help