How can I prevent the hal.dll error?

October 10, 2009

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file."

This is a common error and I see all kinds of troubleshooting online. This message has come on my computer many times. The error has probably happened at least 5 times and I had to reformat my hard drive each time. None of the online solutions helped besides reformatting. I maintain my computer with recent updates and Norton. I also noticed that when I install some LEGIT programs, my computer tends bring this error.

My computer is around 8 years old that uses XP SP2 but I can’t afford a new one. Is there a way to prevent this hal.dll error? Should I buy a new hard drive? I replaced my original hard drive around maybe 4 years ago with a Seagate Barracuda (currently using). One weird thing to note is that the hard drive has worked when under a hard drive enclosure. Not sure about now. Any suggestions?

Computer freezes after Windows XP clean install – New PC built?

September 2, 2009

Hi,

I just built a PC with the following new components:

Intel C2D E8400 CPU
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 CPU cooler
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R Motherboard
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard drive
SAPPHIRE 100265HDMI Radeon HD 4830 512MB Video card
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W Power supply
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Sound card

I used the following used components from my old rig:

2 x 512MB PQI DDR 266 PC2100 (I am waiting for new RAM: Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 PC2 6400)
Seagate Barracuda 160GB 7200RPM hard drive
DVD Drive
DVD Burner

I installed everything very carefully. PC booted normally, I did not make any changes in BIOS. After I finished doing a clean install of XP, the computer just keeps freezing after a minute or two while performing any regular task such as surfing the web, or accessing the C drive. It lets me install a driver or software once in a while and sometimes it will freeze during an installation. It just freezes everytime, it won’t just not freeze at least once. I was wondering if it is the old RAM memory 2 x 512MB that is not enough for this setup or too old? I even uninstalled the sound card, the DVD burner, and left only the 160GB hard drive but it keeps freezing. Any ideas? All I have hooked up now to the MB and CPU is the video card, DVD drive, 2 x 512MB, and 10GB hard drive.

Thanks in advance for your help.
Case is an Antec Lanboy if this helps…
Sorry I meant 160Gb hard drive not 10GB

Constant CRC errors in rar files?

August 31, 2009

As of two months ago nearly all the rar files (r01,r02,r03,etc) I download that are between 40mb-100mb never extract properly.
These are the error messages I get

With 7z – "CRC failed in ‘name of file’. File is broken"
With Winrar – "Packed data CRC failed in ‘name of file’. The volume is corrupt" with WinRAR (tried several versions)

Now I know you can set winrar to ignore the message and continue. But I need to know, is this due to some sort of hardware failure?
I ran memtest 86+ for 14 hours with no errors. Possibly my harddrive is going? (despite not finding any errors with hd diagnostic software)

So then I decided to move the exact same files over to my old computer. They extract perfectly. So its obviously not caused by the download source.

The strange thing is I can extract 1gig rar files perfectly. But if the 1 gig extracts into smaller rar files I cannot extract those.

I already replaced the RAM with new memory. To no avail.

If this helps my specs are :
Windows 7 operating system (tried it on my dual-boot Windows XP SP3 as well)
ASUS Striker Extreme motherboard
8 Gigs Crucial Ballistix DDR2
500gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 drive
1tb Western Digital external drive
ATI Radeon 2900xt graphics card

Oh, and i’ve formatted my harddrive twice since these errors. I’m hoping its something as cheap as replacing the CMOS battery. 😛
—–
Solidus – I know the files aren’t corrupt due to the download itself because the exact same files extract perfect when I move them to a different computer.
Oh and i’ve tried re-downloading. No luck.

My hard drive is not working, will I get in trouble for sending it in with illegal software?

August 24, 2009

I have a SeaGate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500620AS 500gb hard drive that is not working. It is not detected in bios anymore. Ok, I need to send it for repair to HP, but it contains Windows 7 7600 Build 16385 RTM OS and other programs, music, and mp3? Will I get in trouble?
Sorry, if I placed this in the wrong category.