Missing System32 folder, Cant start windows.
OS: WinXP Pro SP2
Yestaday I was surfing the web, when my computer suddenly shut down with no apparent reason, I thought it must of been overheated or something, but when I went to restart, it came up with:
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.
I found this: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/pcrepair/a/missinghal_dll.htm I proceeded to follow the instructions, but when it came to"expand d:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32\hal.dll" in the recovery console, it said "Access Denied". I tried to cd to c:\windows\system32 but that didnt work either, I used dir c:\windows\system32 and it told me it didnt exist.... Weird thing is, that my 2 anti viruses and my firewall didnt give any alerts or anything...
So thats my problem, I must of had a virus that deleted system32... Is there anyway I can resolve the problem without re-installing windows?
Thanks in advance :rolleyes:
-Sam