Hi organic1, If you are getting error message like \system32\hal.dll is corrupt or missing please reinstall........ So dont get afraid. You can repair it by OS CD(Provided by dell already).So You need to boot from cd and get in repair mode and extract the hal.dll file. Otherwise second option is reinstall the Operating System in your PC.

Welcome to the forums :emotion-21:

 

 

What model system do you have, and what OS are you using?

Can you run the Dell Diagnostics - F12 during startup?

 

If you can figure out/if somebody can advise you of a way to copy it to the C:\Windows\System32 folder, you can download the hal.dll from DLL-Files :emotion-55:

 

If not... does your system (still) have a 'Recovery' partition?  Can you access it (Ctrl + F11 for XP / F8 for Vista)?

Unfortunately though, using it would mean losing all your personal data :emotion-6:

So perhaps your best (/only?) option, is to boot from your OS disc, and do a complete 'Repair' install (see below)?

A repair will at least preserve your personal files/data, because they're stored in a backup file on C:\.

 

Repair XP.
Repair Vista.