Here is something I had not heard about before. Use at your own risk if you have such problems, but it might be something worth jotting down for later on, as I have had to deal with many Windows XP problems where files were missing and I just had to start over with a fresh install.
For example, if you already have some knowledge of the commands involved, many “Missing or corrupt HAL.DLL,” “Invalid Boot.Ini,” or “Windows could not start…” problems can be fixed with these five shortcut steps:
* Boot from your XP Setup CD and enter the Recovery Console
* Run “Attrib -H -R -S” on the C:\Boot.ini file
* Delete the C:\Boot.ini file
* Run “Bootcfg /Rebuild”
* Run FixbootIt really can be as simple as that!
Used it before, worked for me.
Normally is very unusual to have messages like that shown. The use of the described command is at a very low level and may damage the boot of the system, if not properly used.
Is better to adopt a good backup policy, using some disk image software when you have done a fresh install of the system.
Marco