Vista - hal.dll error at startup

I don't know if this is the place to ask this, but I hope so...

If anyone can crack this one, I owe you... at least until Vienna comes

The problems started 2 weeks ago. Suddenly when I tried to start my computer
(with Vista Business) a got the "hal.dll is missing or corrupt". I tried to
restart a couple of times, sometimes with other files like clfs.sys beeing
corrupted or missing.

Then I tried the startup repair utility from the Vista DVD... Didn't work!
(I actually tried it a couple of times, seems the clfs.sys file couldn't be
repaired)

Then I tried to hook up my new harddrive to my old computer (XP) to manually
delete the system files so that when repairing, they could be restored.
"Cannot not remove file, please check that the file isn't protected bla bla
bla...". So that didn't work either.

Then I installed Unlocker on my old computer, since I have heard that
unlocker could remove anything. When I tried it, it just said, "This file
does not have a locking handle" or something likte that "would you like to
Remove after restart", I pressed Ok and restarted.... Nothing! The file was
still there.

Now the files aren't gone, bacause I can open them in notepad, and I can
copy them. I just can't delete, move och rename them.

So then I removed Vista and cleaned the drive, and re-installed. Now it
worked...

Just yesterday I got the same error again, and had to re-install vista all
over again!

I have run a memtest for a while now, and there have been no errors. Windows
own diskcheck doesn't report any errors.

Please, If someone have a clue or has heard anything about this from
Microsoft, please give me a hint!

Hi Martin,

If you've installed no software when this happens, it may be a faulty drive
or incorrect timing settings in the system BIOS. You can download a
diagnostic utility from the manufacturer and use it to check the state of
the drive. BIOS timings should be set to defaults, no overclocking
(tweaking).

To check the system file integrity, click start and type CMD. Then right
click the entry in the menu and use 'run as administrator'. From the prompt,
run sfc /scannow.

As to this:

> Then I tried to hook up my new harddrive to my old computer (XP) to
> manually
> delete the system files so that when repairing, they could be restored.
> "Cannot not remove file, please check that the file isn't protected bla
> bla
> bla...". So that didn't work either.

You merely needed to take ownership of the folders first.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
"Martin Nordvall" <Martin Nordvall@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:14F02B3D-F045-4DFB-BD95-83730AA0D61C@microsoft.com...
>I don't know if this is the place to ask this, but I hope so...
>
> If anyone can crack this one, I owe you... at least until Vienna comes
>
> The problems started 2 weeks ago. Suddenly when I tried to start my
> computer
> (with Vista Business) a got the "hal.dll is missing or corrupt". I tried
> to
> restart a couple of times, sometimes with other files like clfs.sys beeing
> corrupted or missing.
>
> Then I tried the startup repair utility from the Vista DVD... Didn't work!
> (I actually tried it a couple of times, seems the clfs.sys file couldn't
> be
> repaired)
>
> Then I tried to hook up my new harddrive to my old computer (XP) to
> manually
> delete the system files so that when repairing, they could be restored.
> "Cannot not remove file, please check that the file isn't protected bla
> bla
> bla...". So that didn't work either.
>
> Then I installed Unlocker on my old computer, since I have heard that
> unlocker could remove anything. When I tried it, it just said, "This file
> does not have a locking handle" or something likte that "would you like to
> Remove after restart", I pressed Ok and restarted.... Nothing! The file
> was
> still there.
>
> Now the files aren't gone, bacause I can open them in notepad, and I can
> copy them. I just can't delete, move och rename them.
>
> So then I removed Vista and cleaned the drive, and re-installed. Now it
> worked...
>
> Just yesterday I got the same error again, and had to re-install vista all
> over again!
>
> I have run a memtest for a while now, and there have been no errors.
> Windows
> own diskcheck doesn't report any errors.
>
> Please, If someone have a clue or has heard anything about this from
> Microsoft, please give me a hint!
>
>

Check out this site it has a repair tool for that file.Hope it works out
for you.
Chuck
http://www.driverfiles.net/page,dll,download,69.html
"Martin Nordvall" <Martin Nordvall@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:14F02B3D-F045-4DFB-BD95-83730AA0D61C@microsoft.com...
>I don't know if this is the place to ask this, but I hope so...
>
> If anyone can crack this one, I owe you... at least until Vienna comes
>
> The problems started 2 weeks ago. Suddenly when I tried to start my
> computer
> (with Vista Business) a got the "hal.dll is missing or corrupt". I tried
> to
> restart a couple of times, sometimes with other files like clfs.sys beeing
> corrupted or missing.
>
> Then I tried the startup repair utility from the Vista DVD... Didn't work!
> (I actually tried it a couple of times, seems the clfs.sys file couldn't
> be
> repaired)
>
> Then I tried to hook up my new harddrive to my old computer (XP) to
> manually
> delete the system files so that when repairing, they could be restored.
> "Cannot not remove file, please check that the file isn't protected bla
> bla
> bla...". So that didn't work either.
>
> Then I installed Unlocker on my old computer, since I have heard that
> unlocker could remove anything. When I tried it, it just said, "This file
> does not have a locking handle" or something likte that "would you like to
> Remove after restart", I pressed Ok and restarted.... Nothing! The file
> was
> still there.
>
> Now the files aren't gone, bacause I can open them in notepad, and I can
> copy them. I just can't delete, move och rename them.
>
> So then I removed Vista and cleaned the drive, and re-installed. Now it
> worked...
>
> Just yesterday I got the same error again, and had to re-install vista all
> over again!
>
> I have run a memtest for a while now, and there have been no errors.
> Windows
> own diskcheck doesn't report any errors.
>
> Please, If someone have a clue or has heard anything about this from
> Microsoft, please give me a hint!
>
>