HAL.dll problem and now no sound, no drive access

system32\hal.dll

Suddenly I get this error and the request to reload the file.

<windows root>\system32\hal.dll

All I have is the slipstream xp disk I made a year ago. All the examples I see in the forums say to repair from inside the xp system.

I can't get it to open and only have my win98 to fix or post on this forum.

Any suggestions or questions?

 

If you can boot from the XP CD, you can try several things. First would be to Extract a copy of hal.dll from the cd to \system32.

If that fails, a repair install might be your best option. In theory (and most times, in practice) it will simply fix problems and not damage anything.

 

looked once but couldn't find it. What am i looking for and where might it be?

 

Sorry but did you mean you couldn't locate the file on the CD or couldn't locate the repair install option or ???

 

I don't get a repair/install option. only install.

and I don't know where to find the file on the disk.

 

Help is still needed. Thanks.

edit note: this is the end of the original hal.dll thread. It somehow got overlooked and the problem got worse so the remaining was posted as a new thread. Merged for completeness. Newt

 

No sound at all missing mixer??

Not sure where to look. Puter keeps telling me to install a mixer so I can hear things.

 

One OS or both?

Exact error message?

When did the problem start.

Does device manager show any issues with your sound card?

 

Well, Lets see if I can explain things more. Initially I lost a file <windows root>\system32\hal.dll

Tried to get info from this forum on how to fix it and never got a clear answer.

Another friend who is a linix user instructed me to insert my slipstream disk and reinstall xp. When I did I installed it on my win98 side (by accident). Now I have 2 xp's and no win98se.

Still have problem with the file on one partition.

My other partition was 98se is now win xp and has no sound. The error says "I have no active mixer devices available. To install mixer devices, go to control panel, click printers and other hardware, then click add hardware.

When I look to see what I'm missing it tells me I have no drivers for "c-media AC97 audio device.

I have also lost access to my hard drives. Using linix I was able to verify that the information is still there but I don't know how to get it.

As you can tell I have multiple issues and appreciate any help offered.

 

Newt I have posted in general section about other issues and this one. I really do appreciate everyones help. Sometimes I don't understand the answer that's givin.

 

Just looked at your original hal.dll thread. Sorry we dropped you on that one.

Your sound problem makes sense now. HAL in hal.dll is Hardware Abstraction Layer and with all NT systems, it's job is to trap any application calls directly to hardware since NT does not allow that for stability reasons. The HAL then tries to interpret the call and pass a safe request (often the original one) on to the hardware.

At this point with the multiple problems, my suggestion would be for you to burn any of your personal files from XP to CD and then do a clean XP install. Get rid of both the existing OS copies and just go with a clean one. Not sure why but HAL issues often don't fix real well.

Linux should be able to deal with FAT32 to copy your personal stuff but if you used NTFS for the file system, you will need to take another approach so post back.

I'm moving this to the XP section since it really belongs there and merging the hal.dll thread in with this one.

 

ok. got my sound back. Had to save the file and install it that way as opposed to letting xp do it.

Need to figure out how to get access to the info of my 80G harddrive. Currently it only gives me the impression that basic folders are there and that they have no information stored. When I use linix it shows all my old information is still there and I can access them.

Cannot access the partition with the hal issue and would like to transfer info from it somewhere if possible.

Seems like I have more ?'s but can't seem to remember them.

Edit: One other possible issue is I seem to remember that I had to flash my bios to get it to recognize the 80g HD.

 

Still need some suggestions.

 

If Linux can see all of the drive, how about using it and burning personal stuff onto CDs. I still think your best bet is a wipe and a clean install.

I think This utility should allow you to at least copy data from the partition you can't access now.

Once more, that PC is a disaster waiting to get lots worse and the sooner you get it formatted and clean installs of whatever you want to install, the better you will be.

 

Thanks NEWT will work on it this weekend.